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Julian Beck (May 31, 1925 – September 14, 1985) was an American actor, stage director, poet, and painter. He is best known for co-founding and directing the Living Theatre, as well as his role as Reverend Henry Kane, the malevolent preacher in the supernatural horror film (1986)
He briefly attended Yale University, but withdrew to pursue writing and art. He was an abstract expressionist painter in the 1940s, but his career turned upon meeting his future wife. In 1943, he met Judith Malina and quickly came to share her passion for theatre; they founded The Living Theatre in 1947.
Beck's philosophy of theatre carried over into his life. He once said "We insisted on experimentation that was an image for a changing society. If one can experiment in theatre, one can experiment in life." He was indicted a dozen times on three continents for charges such as disorderly conduct, indecent exposure, possession of narcotics, and failure to participate in a civil defense drill.
Besides his theatre work, Beck published several volumes of poetry reflecting his anarchism beliefs; two non-fiction books: The Life of the Theatre and Theandric; and made several film appearances, with small roles in Oedipus Rex (1967), Love and Anger (1969), The Cotton Club (1984), and 9½ Weeks (1986). He had a role as the main antagonist in (1986), which was released posthumously. Beck also appeared in an episode of Miami Vice that aired 13 days after his death.
In 2004, 19 years after his death, Beck was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Judith Malina was inducted to the Hall of Fame the same year.
Personal life
Beck and Malina had an open marriage, and Beck had a long-term relationship with Ilion Troya, a male actor in the company. Malina and Beck shared a lover in Lester Schwartz,John Tytell, The Living Theatre: Art, Exile, and Outrage, Grove Press, New York, 1995, , p. 120 a shipyard worker who was the third husband of Andy Warhol acolyte Dorothy Podber. Obituary of Dorothy Podber, The Daily Telegraph, February 26, 2008 Beck and Malina had two children, Garrick and Isha.
Death
Beck was diagnosed with stomach cancer in late 1983, and he died two years later on September 14, 1985 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, aged 60.
Filmography
Further reading
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Categories: 1925 Births, 1985 Deaths, 20th-century American Jews, 20th-century American Lgbtq People, 20th-century American Male Actors, 20th-century American Male Writers, 20th-century American Poets, 20th-century Anarchists, American Anarchist Writers, American Bisexual Artists, American Bisexual Male Actors, American Bisexual Writers, American Lgbtq Male Artists, American Lgbtq Painters, American Lgbtq Poets, American Male Film Actors, American People Of Jewish Descent, American Theatre Directors, Bisexual Jews, Bisexual Male Artists, Bisexual Male Writers, Bisexual Painters, Bisexual Poets, Burials At Cedar Park Cemetery, Deaths From Stomach Cancer In New York, Jewish American Male Actors, Jewish American Painters, Jewish American Poets, Jewish Anarchists, Jews From New York, Lgbtq People From New York, Lgbtq Theatre Directors, Male Actors From Manhattan, People From Washington Heights, Manhattan, Poets From New York, Writers From Manhattan
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