Henry Bean

Henry Bean
Born (1945-08-03) August 3, 1945 (age 81)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Occupations
  • Film actor
  • director
  • screenwriter
Years active1977–present
Children2

Henry Bean (born August 3, 1945) is an American screenwriter, film director, film producer, novelist, and actor.

Best known as a screenwriter, Bean wrote the screenplays for Internal Affairs, Deep Cover, Venus Rising, The Believer, Basic Instinct 2, and Noise. Bean directed The Believer and Noise. He also acted in The Believer, and was a producer on Deep Cover and Noise.

Life

Bean was born in Philadelphia, to Fahnya (née Schorr) and Donald Bean (a lawyer). Bean is Jewish. He received a BA from Yale University in 1967; and a MA from Stanford University in 1973.

Career

Bean's 1983 novel False Match won a PEN Center USA award for "First Fiction".

The Believer was awarded the dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Festival; the Golden St. George at the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival.; and Bean was named a "Breakthrough Director" at the Gotham Independent Film Awards in 2001.

Bean was the inspiration for the protagonist of Noise. He was so tired of constant noise around him and his home in New York City that he decided to take the law into his own hands. If a car alarm was going off and the owner of the vehicle didn't rectify the situation, Bean would break into the car to disable the offending car alarm. Bean was eventually arrested and jailed. He admits to doing it a few more times since.

Bean was a co-writer on two episodes in the second season of The OA.

Personal life

Bean married Nancy Eliason on January 3, 1968; they divorced February 14, 1970. He married screenwriter Leora Barish on March 23, 1980.

Bean has described growing up in an assimilated Jewish home; as an adult, he keeps a kosher home and has studied the Talmud.

Filmography

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1983 Running Brave No Yes No
1990 Internal Affairs No Yes No
1992 Deep Cover No Yes Yes
1995 Venus Rising No Yes No
2001 The Believer Yes Yes No Role as "Ilio Manzetti"
2006 Basic Instinct 2 No Yes No
2007 Noise Yes Yes Yes

References

  1. 1 2 3 Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television: Volume 53. December 14, 2009. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  2. ↑ Bean, Henry (February 25, 2002). The Believer: Confronting Jewish Self-Hatred. Basic Books. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-56025-372-3.
  3. ↑ Clark, John (March 15, 2002). "A Question of Identity for the Man Behind 'The Believer'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  4. ↑ Bean, Henry (1982). False Match. Poseidon Press. ISBN 978-0-671-44251-4.
  5. ↑ "Past Winners". PEN America. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  6. ↑ "23rd Moscow International Film Festival (2001)". www.moscowfilmfestival.ru. MIFF. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  7. ↑ Denby, David (May 12, 2008). "The Unquiet Life". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  8. ↑ Aloisi, Silvia (October 23, 2007). "Tim Robbins wages crusade against noise in new film". Reuters. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  9. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (August 14, 2001). "A film about a neo-Nazi Jew – how could anyone find that offensive?". The Guardian. Retrieved October 20, 2026.