John Beal Movies and Career Information

John Beal (August 13, 1909 – April 26, 1997) was an American actor. Beal was born James Alexander Bliedung in Joplin, Missouri. He originally went to New York to study art but a chance to understudy in a play made him change his mind. He began acting in the 1930s, opposite Katharine Hepburn (in the 1934 RKO film The Little Minister), among others; one of his notable screen appearances was Les Misérables (1935). He continued appearing in films during the war years while serving in Special Services as actor and director of Army Air Forces camp shows and training films. He was hired to play the role of Jim Matthews in the television soap opera Another World when the show went on the air in 1964, but was fired by creator and headwriter Irna Phillips after only one episode. He continued to work in films and television, notably as Judge Vail in the supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows (for 9 episodes), and also the theater up until the 1980s. Beal died at age 87 in Santa Cruz, California, two years after suffering a stroke.