Mr. Bean is a fictional character from the British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television programme '' Mr. Bean'', its animated spin-off, and two live-action feature films. He was created and portrayed by

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–20 ...

and made his first appearance on television in the pilot episode which first aired on 1 January 1990.

Overview

Mr. Bean lives in Flat 2, 12 Arbour Road,

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

, London, England. His first name and his profession, if any, are never mentioned; he introduces himself simply as "Bean." In the first film adaptation, ''

Bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

'', "Mr." appears on his passport in the "first name" field, and he is shown employed as a guard at London's

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

.Mel Smith, ''Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie'', PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, 1997 His date of birth is given variously as 15 September 1956, or as 6 January 1955 (the latter being Rowan Atkinson's actual date of birth). At the beginning of episode two onwards, Mr. Bean falls from the sky in a beam of light, accompanied by a choir singing ''Ecce homo qui est faba'' ("Behold the man who is a bean"), recorded by Southwark Cathedral Choir. These opening sequences were initially in black and white in episodes two and three, and were intended by the producers to show his status as an "ordinary man cast into the spotlight". However, later episodes showed Mr. Bean dropping from the night sky in a deserted London street against the backdrop of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

. At the end of episodes three and six he is also shown being sucked right back up into the sky in the respective background scenes (black scene in episode 3 and street scene in episode 6). Atkinson has acknowledged that Mr. Bean "has an alien aspect to him". In the

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

(episode, "Double Trouble") he is taken inside a spacecraft with "aliens" who look exactly like him and even have their own plushy toys. In an obvious homage, the aliens send him back home in a beam of light and music similar to the opening of the original ''Mr. Bean'' series.

Clothing

Mr. Bean wears a brown tweed jacket, a white shirt, a thin red tie, brown trousers, black shoes and a black digital calculator watch. He occasionally changes his outfit to suit the scene he is in. In the episode "

The Return of Mr. Bean "The Return of Mr. Bean" is the second episode of the British television series ''Mr. Bean'', produced by Tiger Television for Thames Television. It was first broadcast on ITV on 5 November 1990. This was the first episode to be co-written b ...

", when Bean is heading to a fancy restaurant to celebrate his birthday, he wears a grey suit with a dark red tie. In the same episode he wears a

tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element ...

. In the episode "

The Curse of Mr. Bean "The Curse of Mr. Bean" is the third episode of the British television series '' Mr. Bean'', produced by Tiger Television for Thames Television. It was first broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1991 and was watched by 13.8 million viewers during its ...

", when Bean is heading for the park to make a sandwich for his lunch, he wears a long dark green

overcoat An overcoat is a type of long coat intended to be worn as the outermost garment, which usually extends below the knee. Overcoats are most commonly used in winter when warmth is more important. They are sometimes confused with or referred to as ...

with a light green shirt and a dark green tie. In the same episode when Bean goes to watch a horror film with his girlfriend, he is wearing his trademark clothes but with a light colored brown sweater instead of his trademark brown tweed jacket.

Personality

Mr. Bean is immature, self-absorbed, extremely competitive and brings various abnormal schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks. He rarely speaks, and when he does, it is normally only a few mumbled words which are in a comically low-pitched voice. Mr. Bean often seems unmindful of basic aspects of the way the world works, and the programme typically features his attempts at what would generally be considered simple activities, such as going for a swim, using a television set, redecorating, or attending church. The humour largely comes from his original (and often absurd) solutions to problems – usually self-inflicted – and his total disregard for others when solving them, his pettiness and occasional malevolence.

Influences

Atkinson cited the earlier comedy character Monsieur Hulot, created by French comedian and director Jacques Tati, as an influence on the character. Atkinson also cited the influence of Peter Sellers, who had previously played similar "fumbling fool" characters, notably Hrundi Bakshi in '' The Party'' (1968) and Inspector Clouseau in '' The Pink Panther'' films.

Appearances

Mr. Bean is the main character of both the titular TV series and its animated spin-off, as well as of feature films based on the series, ''

'' (1997) and ''

Mr. Bean's Holiday ''Mr. Bean's Holiday'' is a 2007 comedy film directed by Steve Bendelack and written by Hamish McColl and Robin Driscoll, from a story penned by Simon McBurney. Based on the British sitcom series '' Mr. Bean'' created by Rowan Atkinson and R ...

'' (2007). Bean also made guest appearances at the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony and in the 2017 Chinese film ''Top Funny Comedian: The Movie''. Atkinson also portrayed Bean in several sketches for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

and also in television advertisements throughout the years such as REMA 1000, M&M's, Fujifilm,

Nissan Tino The Nissan Almera Tino is a car which was produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan between 1998 and 2006 in Japan, as the Nissan Tino. Nissan's Spanish factory produced the Almera Tino between 2000 and 2006. It has been described as a mini MPV, a ...

, Snickers and most recently for

Etisalat Etisalat by e& is an UAE, Emirati-based multinational telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is the 18th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of sub ...

in 2019.

References

External links

Mr. Bean official website

Mr. Bean
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{Authority control Mr. Bean British sitcom characters Comedy television characters Comedy film characters Television characters introduced in 1990 Fictional people from London Rowan Atkinson