George Richard Beymer Jr. (born February 20, 1938) is an American actor, filmmaker and visual artist. After making his feature acting debut in Vittorio De Sica's Stazione Termini (1953), he rose to promience for playing the roles of Peter van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and Tony in the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story.
Through the early 60s, Beymer continued to portray lead roles in films such as Frank Tashlin's Bachelor Flat (1961), Martin Ritt's Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962), and Franklin J. Schaffner's The Stripper (1963). After shifting his focus towards filmmaking in the mid 60s, Beymer would continue to sporadically act, most notably as Ben Horne on the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017).
As a filmmaker in the late 60s, he focused on documentaries focused on the civil rights movement, before working on the experimental narrative feature The Innerview throughout the 1970s. Later documentary works include features focused on subjects such as the funeral of Transcendental Meditation creator Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch's spiritual journey to India.
Career
Child actor
Beymer acted on television in Los Angeles for three years in a show called Sandy Dreams, rehearsing after school during the week and recording it on Saturdays. The show ended when he was 13.
Beymer made his feature-film debut in Vittorio De Sica's Stazione Termini (1953). He was under contract to David O. Selznick for a year. Producer William Perlberg later said "It's a thing that periodically happens out here. Somebody comes along and talk starts and agents and studios keep talking and talking. Like an avalanche, the talk gathers speed. Ultimately that 'somebody' turns out to be a big name in Hollywood only."
Beymer later said he "was miserable in West Side Story. I didn't know enough at the time because I lacked certain knowledge in acting...I came out ridiculous. I didn't stand up for what I should have and I didn't know enough. The blame should be on me."
Beymer was reunited with Weld in the Fox comedy Bachelor Flat (1961). At Columbia, he played the son of Rosalind Russell and Jack Hawkins in Five Finger Exercise (1962). Beymer later said he was "terrible" in it.
He was given the role of Nick Adams in Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) for Fox, with an all-star supporting cast. Producer Jerry Wald says he and director Martin Ritt agreed that Beymer was "the young actor I think stands the best chance of being the next Gary Cooper." During filming, Beymer met Sharon Tate, and he encouraged her to get into acting. The film was a big flop and it has been argued it "killed Beymer as a movie star."
Producer Wald and director Franklin Schaffner cast Beymer in The Stripper (1963) with Joanne Woodward, which was critically acclaimed but not a big hit. Beymer returned to New York.
He assisted Barney Frank in rescuing Freedom Democrat forms in a rental truck that had been confiscated from arrested Freedom volunteers in Canton, Mississippi on Freedom Day (July 16, 1964). During this time, he filmed the award-winning documentary A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer (1964), portraying the efforts of volunteers registering African-Americans to vote. He acted in The Country Girl on stage.
Filmmaker
In the 1970s, Beymer turned to experimental filmmaking with The Innerview, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred. It won the Josef von Sternberg Award at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival in 1974. "I never left the movies," Beymer said. "I just made different kinds of movies."
In the early 2000s, Beymer returned to making documentaries. One titled Whatever Happened to Richard Beymer?, which chronicled his obsession with photography throughout his life, was screened at the 2002 Twin Peaks Festival in Seattle. He continued to focus on directing documentaries: His 2010 film The Passing of a Saint chronicles the funeral rites of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
He starred in, wrote and directed episodes of the television series Insight. He lived for two years in a commune and worked in Switzerland.
Beymer reprised his role as Ben Horne in the third season of Twin Peaks in 2017.
In 2019, Beymer visited the set of Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story. In December 2021, Rachel Zegler, the film's star, released two photos on her Instagram page: One of Beymer sitting next to Spielberg; another of Beymer hugging Zegler while screenwriter Tony Kushner looked on. According to Zegler, Beymer said "Te adoro María" to her "over and over again" as they embraced.
Books
In 2007 Beymer completed Impostor: Or Whatever Happened to Richard Beymer?, his first book, a self-published novel and a semi-autobiographical account of a young actor's struggle to find himself.
As visual artist
Beymer's photographs of Twin Peaks cast and crew were featured in the gallery of behind the scenes photos on the Definitive Gold Box Edition for Twin Peaks, released on October 30, 2007. He is also a painter and sculptor.
As of 2010, Beymer resided in Fairfield, Iowa, where he continued to make films and to write, sculpt, and paint. He practices Transcendental Meditation, to "cool out".
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1951
| Fourteen Hours
|
| Uncredited
|-
| 1953
| Terminal Station
| Paul Stevens
|
|-
| 1953
| So Big
| Roelf (Age 12–16)
|
|-
| 1957
| Johnny Tremain
| Rab Silsbee
|
|-
| 1959
| The Diary of Anne Frank
| Peter Van Daan
|
|-
| 1960
| High Time
| Bob Bannerman
|
|-
| 1961
| West Side Story
| Tony
| Nominated —Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy<br/>Nominated — Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor