In the sixties and seventies, Richard Beymer shook the acting industry with the role he played as Tony in “West Side Story”. Now, whenever his name is mentioned, his life story goes beyond the roles he played in films but touching the numerous achievement and awards and other things. See all the facts you need to know about him.
Richard Beymer: Age and early life
Richard Beymer was born on February 20 1938 in Avoca, Iowa, to a printer named George Richard Beymer, and Eunice. In 1940, his family moved to Los Angeles and it was a relocation laden with fortune as he landed a role in the Los Angeles TV series “Sandy Dreams”.
He combined his schooling with his acting hours but handled it with so much dignity that it never interfered with his learning until the show ended after three years. His Jennifer Jones complexion soon earned him a role in “Stazione Termini”.
He is 83 years.
Richar Beymer: Career
After his debut film in 1953, he was signed by David O. Selznick for a year until Selznick loaned him to Warners to play Jane Wyman’s piano protege in “So Big”. His role in ‘So big” unlocked other acting roles for him.
In 1959, he played the role of Peter Van Daan in “The Diary of Anne Frank”. He was outstanding in the movie and went on to receive laudable praise from critics. By the time he signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, many began to refer him as an exciting future star.
In 1960, he joined the cast of “West Side Story” as Tony. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which was inspired by William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including Best Picture Award.
Richard Beymer portrayed the son of Rosalind Russell and Jack Hawkins in ‘Five Finger Exercise” in 1962. He played the role of Nick Adams in “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man” for Fox in 1962 but the film flopped heavily. He soon started giving himself self-reviews and most times acknowledge that there are roles he could have done better. Like the role he played in “The Longest Day” which he revealed that he was unhappy with his acting in the film. “They tried to make me the nice kid next door,” he said. “That’s just not me. They said just play you – but I am not the all American boy” he said in an interview.
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In 1964, he almost went into early retirement stating that all the films he appeared except for “the longest Day” should have been a classroom work and not shown publicly. In 1965, he was not appearing in films heavily anymore guest but started showing flashes of himself in episodes of “Kraft Suspense Theatre”, “The Virginian”, “Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre”, “Dr. Kildare”, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E”., and “Death Valley Days.”
In the early 70s, he became a filmmaker as he wrote and produced and directed the film “The Innerview”. The film won the Josef von Sternberg Award at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival in 1974. He returned to acting in the latter part of the 70s and appeared in several films and television series. In 2007 he completed his first book, a self-published novel, “Impostor: Or Whatever Happened to Richard Beymer”? The book narrates the account of a young actor’s struggle to find himself.
His 2010 film “The Passing of a Saint”, chronicles the funeral rites of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Richard Beymer is also a painter and sculptor.
All The Facts
Richard Beymer is unmarried. He is 83 years and that is not to say he has outgrown falling in love. Maybe he won’t feel butterflies in his stomach like other younger adults who encounter love but his net worth can surely get him a trophy wife if that’s what he wants. However, he has remained lips sealed about finding a wife. There are rumors that he once flirted with Natalie Wood, his co-star in “The West Side Story”. Richard Beymer doesn’t have a child.
He has a net worth of 18 million dollars. Richard Beymer lives in Fairfield Iowa where he continues to practice Transcendental Meditation. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall or 1.88 meters in height.
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