John Beck is an American actor. He grew up in Joliet, Illinois. Renowned as a gritty actor with plenty of presence on set, he is ultimately best-known worldwide for playing the role of Mark Graison in Dallas during the mid-1980s, but is also well known for several other roles in which he specialised in playing hard-ball businessmen. Beck grew up in Chicago, where he lived on his father's ranch. His childhood ambition was to become a veterinarian. However, following his performance in a school play aged 16, which he had been asked to take part in as a means of overcoming profound shyness, his... tutors encouraged him to try to get into drama school instead. He moved to California in 1962 at age 19, and initially made his living by appearing in TV commercials. In 1963/ 1964 he attended Joliet Junior College and was in an acting class. A year later, he made his first television appearance as an actor in his own right in a 1965 episode of I Dream of Jeannie at the age of 21, and was soon highly commended as one of the United States' strongest support actors.
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