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Ned Beatty (1937-2021), Prolific American Actor Perhaps Best Known for his Role in "Deliverance"


DonRocks

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It may seem somewhat random that I'm beginning a thread on Ned Beatty, but I just discovered a piece of arcane trivia about this beloved actor from Louisville, KY (yes, pun intended, for which I'll roast in Hell).

It *was* completely random that I stumbled across a police-training video on YouTube called "Stay Alert, Stay Alive," which I believe to be filmed in 1965 (based exclusively on the National Archives code), and starting out with a letter by J. Edgar Hoover himself.

But I believe the person who put up this marvelous little piece of Americana didn't realize what he had found, because at one point - 17'45" into the 22'17" video for those who don't want to watch the entire thing - my jaw dropped when I saw who I'm *certain* is a young Ned Beatty.

Note: It is not a complete waste of your time to watch the entire video - it's pretty well-made, informative, and I found it quite interesting - both as a tiny piece of history, and as a Dragnet-type instructional video - so do yourself a favor and watch the entire thing to get a "flavor" for it before your encounter with Beatty.

Note also: In Beatty's Wikipedia entry (first paragraph), the second paragraph of the "Early Life" section reads, "During his first ten years of theater, he worked at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, the State Theater of Virginia." Abingdon is twenty minutes southwest of Chilhowie, former home of John and Karen Shields' famed Town House restaurant, and there are things in the film (the hotel, for example), that led me to believe it was filmed in Virginia, so I'm guessing they may have recruited some actors from the Barter Theatre.

Although I don't know for sure, this may be the oldest existing copy of a professional work by Ned Beatty, in which case, it's of historical significance for that alone. Enjoy!

The Doo-Dad Jiggle

Screenshot 2017-01-06 at 18.00.31.png <--- "Hmm, this guy feels just like a hawg."

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1 hour ago, The Hersch said:

Ned Beatty was a member of the resident company at Arena Stage in the late 60s. I saw him play Hickey in The Iceman Cometh, among other things.

I thought *sure* I'd read something regarding Beatty and DC in the past, but I thought it was Catholic University, so I was looking in the wrong place (Jon Voight, for example, graduated from Catholic - maybe it was "Deliverance" that led me astray).

Incidentally, Ned Beatty is not related to Warren Beatty, although they were both born in 1937. Coincidentally, both Warren and his older sister Shirley MacLaine briefly lived in the Dominion Hills neighborhood of Arlington, VA in the 1950s. In Arlington, Shirley MacLaine played baseball for Thomas Jefferson Junior High School's all-boy's team.

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Warren and Shirley's parents, who spelled their last name Beaty, were still living in Arlington somewhere in the mid-70s. I delivered their mail once. I went to TJ junior high, but I never heard that tidbit about Shirley before.

(It may be interesting that I posted my previous comment in a train from Prague to Vienna, and am now sitting in a tiny room in a Vienna hotel where I stayed once before, about 25 years ago. Oh, and this building is where Franz Grillparzer was born in 1791.)

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