1998 | 'A Christmas Carol' at the Pacific Resident Theatre

( From the Times archives )

Orson Bean, who starred in "The Facts of Life" and "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," commenced his portrayal of Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" with a double-take and a drum beat, wrote theater critic F. Kathleen Foley in 1998.

"Bean's adaptation at Pacific Resident Theatre is cheerfully tongue-in-cheek, his Scrooge a comical curmudgeon whose muttered asides are more reminiscent of Popeye than Dickens," she said.