Beans Morocco (June 8, 1934) aka Dan Barrows is an improvisation comic and actor who has appeared twice on Mork & Mindy in two different roles. Once as Dittman in the first season episode Mork the Gullible and once in the fourth season episode Gotta Run, Part 3, as Maury, Mork's new merchandising manager.
Biography[]
Beans was born Dan Ernest Barrows in Ohio in 1934.
Career[]
He began his entertainment career as a member of The Committee, the famed San Francisco based improv group, established in 1963 by Second City alumni Alan and Jessica Myerson, whose long list of alumni includes Howard Hesseman (WKRP in Cincinatti), Peter Bonerz (The Bob Newhart Show), Julie Payne (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Rob Reiner (This is Spinal Tap). and Carl Gottlieb. The Committee's legendary workshops introduced improvisational theater techniques to a generation of new performers and teachers including Robin Williams.
Beans made his film debut in Tom Laughlin's Billy Jack (1971) performing with fellow Committee members Alan & Jessica Meyerson (co-founders), Howard Hesseman, Richard Stahl, and Ed Greenberg. Since then he has amassed almost 100 credits as an actor, forging a reputation as a comic character actor.
Through the 1970s and early 1980s he made appearances in some of the most prominent shows of the time.
| Year | TV Series | Episode | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Bob Newhart Show | The Crash of 29 Years Old | Mr. Keeney |
| 1974 | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | What Are Friends For? | Bellhop |
| 1975 | McMillan & Wife | Deadly Inheritance | Clerk |
| 1976 | Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman | - Episode #2.60
- Episode #2.59 - Episode #1.9 |
Ralph Crimins |
| 1977-1981 | Laverne & Shirley | I Wonder What Became of Sal?
Haunted House |
Carlisle
Bill |
| 1978-1980 | Eight Is Enough | Holly
Who's on First? |
Registrar |
| 1978-1982 | Mork & Mindy | Mork the Gullible
Gotta Run: Part 3 |
Dittman
Maury |
| 1979 | The Dukes of Hazzard | Money to Burn | Attendant |
| 1980 | WKRP in Cincinnati | Jennifer Moves | Mr. Furgood |
| 1980 | Archie Bunker's Place | Home Again | Client |
| 1981 | Soap | Episode #4.8 | Dr. Yalowich |
| 1981 | The Incredible Hulk | Mr. Cox | Mr. Cox |
| 1982 | The Fall Guy | Colt Breaks Out
Colt's Outlaws |
Matt Prentice |
| 1986-1990 | Growing Pains | 6 Episodes |
Later he appeared in among others, Thirty Something, Just the Ten of Us, Dream On, Matlock, Days of Our Lives, Designing Women, Caroline in the City, Star Trek: Voyager, Mad About You, Murphy Brown, Charmed, Sons & Daughters, Scrubs. From around 2005 he began using the name Beans Morocco.
His TV Movie appearance over the same period include: Where Have All the People Gone (1974) Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence (1976 ) It Happened One Christmas (1977) Mixed Nuts (1977) It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984) Do You Know the Muffin Man? (1989) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1991) Hi Honey - I'm Dead (1991) Vidiots (1991) A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004) McBride: The Chameleon Murder (2005) McBride: Murder Past Midnight (2005) The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007) Lone Rider (2008)
His feature film appearances since Billy Jack include 1973Steelyard Blues (1973), Blazing Saddles (1974), Tunnel Vision (1976) Coming Attractions (1978), Every Girl Should Have One (1978), Used Cars (1980) Any Which Way You Can (1980) Private Lessons (1981) The Beach Girls (1982) Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982), Going Berserk (1983 )The Steel Collar Man (1985) Once Bitten (1985) Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach (1988) Hero and the Terror Priest (1988), Portrait of a White Marriage (1988) Police Academy 6: City Under Siege Bank President (1989) Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) The American President (1995) A Fare to Remember (1999) Domestic Import (2006). He has also appeared in numerous shorts his last onscreen credit being The Adventures of Captain Fantastic & Mega Mom (2014)
Mork & Mindy[]
Dan/Beans made two appearances in the show:
In Season 1's Mork the Gullible as Dimmit, the escaped, then captured prisoner, who is handcuffed temporarily in the McConnell's Music Store, and left in the charge of Mork while the Deputy Sherriff goes to get backup. Telling Mork he only got out to go visit his sick mother, and fully intended to go back. Mork buys the story and using his finger unlocks him, only to get arrested himself for aiding in the escape of a prisoner. Thrown into jail (where he encounters Exidor again), Mork is vindicated when Dimmit turns up, a little late, but as promised and hands himself in after visiting his mother, because Mork put himself on the line for him.
His second appearance was briefer, in Gotta Run, Part 3, as Maury, Mork's merchandizing manager in the wake of Mork's global fame after the world finds out he's an alien, arriving in to show Mork the new items, that pretty much mirror the type/slogans used when the show went stratospheric early on.
Much as with other members of the improv and comedy store groups he worked with (Paul Willson, David Letterman, Jeff Altman, Jim Staahl) it is likely the roles (or at least alert to them) came through connections with Robin Williams. In addition, Beans featured in the Pam Dawber led 'Do You Know The Muffin Man' in 1989.