Actor, Comedian Steve Levy Dies in Pasadena

Actor and comedian Steven Joseph Levy, aka Steve Bean, passed away on Monday, January 21, at his home in Pasadena after a courageous battle against cancer. He was 58.
Levy landed roles on such series as “Quantum Leap,” “Murder She Wrote,” “Married with Children” and “Monk,” and the Bobcat Goldthwait comedy “Shakes the Clown.”
Most recently, Levy appeared on episodes of “Shameless” and “Ray Donovan.”
Levy was born in Lynn, Massachusetts and raised in Providence, R.I. He attended Hillel Academy in Swampscott, MA, the Providence Hebrew Day School and graduated from Classical High School in Providence, class of 1978.
An avid Red Sox and Patriots fan, Levy went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and cut his theatrical teeth performing stand-up at local Pittsburgh area nightclubs.
In 1980, Levy teamed up with comic Chris Zito to form what has became known as Zito and Bean. In Boston, Zito and Bean garnered an enthusiastic following, becoming mainstays of the Boston comedy scene and enjoying a three-year run with their own show at a popular club, Play It Again Sam’s.
After about a decade, Levy split from the duo to move to Los Angeles, where he joined the Groundlings Improv Group and wrote for such shows as the “Tim Conway Show” and ABC’s “Dot Comedy.”
He was a member of the Screen Actors Guild AFTRA and the Writers Guild.
In late 2016, Bean was diagnosed with sino-squamous cell carcinoma, or nose cancer, one of the rarest forms of cancer. Levy wrote an essay for Mel Magazine in 2018, “My Year Without a Nose,” where he chronicled his cancer journey and treatment. He wrote he had undergone “schnozophomy.”
“That’s Yiddish for rhinectomy, which is English for cutting your nose off,” he wrote in good humor.
“I’ve now lost my nose, my tear ducts, my upper palate and gums, all but four of my teeth, my appetite, my right cheekbone, much of my right jawbone, much of my right cheek, my eyebrows and moustache (chemo), the feeling in my upper lip (surgery), most of the motor control of the right side of my face (surgery) and some hearing in each ear (chemo),” he said. “I also lost about 40 pounds, and worst of all, I lost my sense of humor.”
Levy is survived by his wife, Caroline Carrigan; his son, Jacob Randall Levy; his parents, Irwin and Dorothy Levy; sisters Lauren Levy Brodie and her husband Todd, and Jill Levy Sorota; nieces and nephews, Michael Miller, Allison Miller, Lindsey Sorota and Andrew Sorota; and great niece, Amelia Wilcox.
Donations in his memory may be made to Cancer Support Community Pasadena at 76 E. Del Mar Blvd. #215, Pasadena.