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 ''Deep Cover'' is a 1992 American action thriller film starring Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum and Charles Martin Smith, and directed by veteran actor Bill Duke in his third directorial outing. The screenplay was written by Henry Bean and Ac ...

'', '' Venus Rising'', '' The Believer'', '' Basic Instinct 2'', and ''

Noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...

''. 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 Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, to Fahny (née Schorr) and Donald Bean (a lawyer). Bean is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He received a BA from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1967; and a MA from Stanford University in 1973.

Career

Bean's 1983 novel ''False Match'' won a

PEN Center USA PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN, an international literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being the PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unifi ...

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 The 23rd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 21 to 30 June 2001. The Golden St. George was awarded to the American film '' The Believer'' directed by Henry Bean. Jury * Margarethe von Trotta (Germany – President of the Jury) * Jia ...

.; 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 A car alarm is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the vehicle itself, its contents, or both. Car alarms work by emitting high-volume sound (often a vehicle-mounted siren, klaxon, pre-recorded verbal ...

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 ''The OA'' is an American mystery drama television series with science fiction, supernatural, and fantasy elements. ''The OA'' debuted on Netflix on December 16, 2016. Created and executive produced by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, the serie ...

''.

Personal life

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

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1945 births Living people American male film actors American male screenwriters Male actors from Philadelphia Film directors from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Jewish American male actors Jewish American novelists Screenwriters from Pennsylvania 21st-century American Jews {{US-film-director-1940s-stub