Julian Beck

Julian Beck was an American painter, poet, actor, and stage director who co-founded the Living Theatre in 1947 and co-directed it until his death in 1985. Born in Washington Heights in Manhattan, he briefly attended Yale University before leaving to focus on writing and art, and in the 1940s he worked as an abstract expressionist painter. The Living Theatre drew heavily on Antonin Artaud and his Theatre of Cruelty, an approach meant to jolt audiences out of complacency; one example was Jack Gelber's The Connection (1959), in which performers playing addicts moved among spectators asking for money. Beck also published poetry and nonfiction volumes titled The Life of the Theatre and Theandric. His film credits include The Cotton Club (1984), Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986), Love and Anger (1969), and Oedipus Rex (1967), while in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) he played the main antagonist, Henry Kane. A Miami Vice episode featuring him aired 13 days after he died.