The unconventionally persistent journey of ‘Gentle Ben’ heroine Beth Brickell

Yippee what a knockout! “When ‘Gentle Ben’ was cancelled in 1969, I wanted to rid myself of my mother image and that’s the reason for the sexy photo that I took,” confirms former actress Beth Brickell. Image courtesy of Beth Brickell

Growing up as a balsa wood airplane aficionado in post-World War II Arkansas, nine-year-old tomboy Beth Brickell spent Saturday afternoons glued to her seat inside the Pine Bluff movie theater catching B-Western double features starring Southern gentleman Johnny Mack Brown.

Dreaming of faraway places when not distracted by annoying little sister Beverly, the rebellious Scorpio consistently scored exemplary grades even when her family decamped to Camden. A high school blind date with a mysterious, serenading Lothario who may have been Elvis Presley capped Brickell’s idyllic Camden tenure.

Majoring in History and Political Science at the University of Arkansas, James Dean’s calamitous head-on automobile collision on September 30, 1955, prompted Brickell’s bereaved classmates to implore her to immediately track down a screening of East of Eden, the meteoric newcomer’s debut starring role in a motion picture. Totally unaware of Dean, Brickell was so captivated by his mesmerizing performance as Cal Trask, a frustrated son vying for his stern father’s acceptance and affection, that later that evening she decided to pursue acting full throttle.

Unsure of exactly how to accomplish such a lofty, seemingly impossible dream and figuring it best not to inform her parents…