John Beasley, Late-Blooming Actor Known for Playing Sages, Dies at 79

Last fall, Mr. Beasley scaled a private peak as a stage actor with a distinguished position because the older incarnation of Noah, the love-struck male protagonist, in a musical adaptation of the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel “The Notebook,” and the 2004 movie primarily based on it, on the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He died earlier than the manufacturing may make its anticipated transfer to Broadway.

John Beasley was born on June 26, 1943, in Omaha, the oldest of 5 sons of John Wilfred Beasley, who owned {an electrical} provide enterprise, and Grace (Triplett) Beasley.

He was lively in theater in highschool, and after graduating he briefly studied the topic on the University of Nebraska Omaha earlier than dropping out to affix the Army.

After being discharged, he married Judy Garner. She survives him. In addition to his son Michael, Mr. Beasley can also be survived by one other son, Tyrone; his brothers Gary, Steven and Leon; and 6 grandchildren, together with the basketball participant Malik Beasley.

By 1968, he had grew to become lively within the civil rights motion, and he ended up transferring his household to Philadelphia due to threats he confronted after taking part in protests of policing practices in Omaha’s Black group.

After returning together with his household to Omaha within the early Seventies, he saved his performing desires alive by showing in industrial movies and stage productions, honing his expertise regionally earlier than being solid in regional theater roles in Minneapolis, Chicago and Atlanta. Through all of it, nonetheless, he stayed centered on his dwelling life — and on Omaha.

“We were going through some ups and downs early in our relationship, my wife and I,” Mr. Beasley mentioned in an interview final yr with American Theatre journal. “There were things to work through — and we did. I felt it would be better for me to stay here with my wife and family. It turned out to be the best decision I made.”