Vale: Orson Bean

Veteran US actor Orson Bean, whose credits include Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman and Desperate Housewives, has died, aged 91.

He was hit by a car in Los Angeles, authorities confirmed.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office confirmed his death was being investigated as a “traffic-related” fatality.

Born in 1928 as Dallas Frederick Burrows, he picked the stage name Orson Bean “because it sounded funny”.

He had six years on US panel show To Tell the Truth. He frequently made guest appearances on The Tonight Show with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson plus Super Password and Match Game.

Bean took a break from his career for a time in the 1970s when he dropped out and moved to Australia, where he lived a hippie lifestyle.

But he returned to the US – after a period as a self-described “house-husband” – and resumed his career.

In the 1990s, he played the shopkeeper Loren Bray on Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Other credits included Desperate Housewives, 7th Heaven, How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family.

Film credits included Anatomy of a Murder, The Equalizer 2 and Being John Malkovich.

He is survived by wife and actor Alley Mills (The Wonder Years, The Bold and the Beautiful).

Source: AAP / Seven News, TMZ