Jim Beaver, renaissance man and fanboy geek
There's this actor named Jim Beaver. If you recognize him, it's
probably from one of two shows: "Deadwood" or "Supernatural." On the
former he played Ellsworth, one of the (very) few characters on that
show who was just a good guy, and on the latter he plays Bobby, the
guy with the Colt who's become kind of a surrogate dad for Darling
Sammy and El Deano.
Jim Beaver is a cool guy. He's a Vietnam vet and a longtime theater
actor and writer. He wrote a ton of screenplays for TV and such, and
did a lot of supporting TV and film work.
But the thing about Jim Beaver is that he is the world's foremost
authority on George Reeves, the actor who played Superman on TV and
who died under mysterious circumstances. He actually served as the
historical consultant on the movie "Hollywoodland," which was about
Reeves' death in which Ben Affleck played Reeves. Beaver has been
researching a book about Reeves for decades.
So one thing I do during lunchtime is read The Straight Dope, a
website/newspaper column by Cecil Adams, the world's smartest human,
in which he answers questions like "can you really see a munchkin
committing suicude during Wizard of Oz" and whether misuse of Pine-Sol
is a federal crime.
On occasion, Cecil hands over answering of some questions to the
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, who generate staff reports to
answer some more intricate questions.
One of those questions, posted here, was
whether George Reeves committed suicide or was murdered. Part of the
answer was contributed by SDStaffer "jumblejim."
Upon reading Jumblejim's answer, it becomes immediately clear that
Jumblejim is, in fact, Jim Beaver.
I just find it deeply cool that a SAG Award nominated actor making
what has to be a pretty decent living as an actor still finds time to
write answers for a geeky website.
Jim Beaver, he be one of us.
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probably from one of two shows: "Deadwood" or "Supernatural." On the
former he played Ellsworth, one of the (very) few characters on that
show who was just a good guy, and on the latter he plays Bobby, the
guy with the Colt who's become kind of a surrogate dad for Darling
Sammy and El Deano.
Jim Beaver is a cool guy. He's a Vietnam vet and a longtime theater
actor and writer. He wrote a ton of screenplays for TV and such, and
did a lot of supporting TV and film work.
But the thing about Jim Beaver is that he is the world's foremost
authority on George Reeves, the actor who played Superman on TV and
who died under mysterious circumstances. He actually served as the
historical consultant on the movie "Hollywoodland," which was about
Reeves' death in which Ben Affleck played Reeves. Beaver has been
researching a book about Reeves for decades.
So one thing I do during lunchtime is read The Straight Dope, a
website/newspaper column by Cecil Adams, the world's smartest human,
in which he answers questions like "can you really see a munchkin
committing suicude during Wizard of Oz" and whether misuse of Pine-Sol
is a federal crime.
On occasion, Cecil hands over answering of some questions to the
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, who generate staff reports to
answer some more intricate questions.
One of those questions, posted here, was
whether George Reeves committed suicide or was murdered. Part of the
answer was contributed by SDStaffer "jumblejim."
Upon reading Jumblejim's answer, it becomes immediately clear that
Jumblejim is, in fact, Jim Beaver.
I just find it deeply cool that a SAG Award nominated actor making
what has to be a pretty decent living as an actor still finds time to
write answers for a geeky website.
Jim Beaver, he be one of us.
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