Rowan Atkinson may have more than 50 acting credits on his resume, but to most of the world, he’ll always be best known as the ridiculously rubber-faced Mr. Bean, one of the most successful names in the world of comedy. The show and the character was so popular that even children to this day still know the name. Rowan's success in the field of Comedy and Entertainment has built up to give him an estimated net worth of over $150 million today. But before fame and fortune, before all the laughs and the silent humor, who was the man behind Mr. Bean?

 

Rowan Atkinson was born on January 6, 1955, in Durham, England. Rowan was the youngest of four boys. He attended two boarding schools, both of which were run under the auspices of the Church of England. In class, he was a middle of the road student. There was nothing particularly outstanding about him. Rather he was a quiet lad who walked his own path.

 

In fact, a 2007 article in The Independent stated that a young Atkinson had been bullied at the Durham Choristers School because of his stuttering and appearance. But when he walked on-stage he was exceptional. Even an incipient stammer vanished whenever the young Atkinson stepped onto the stage. Despite this extraordinary skill, stuttering is still part of his life.
“Did you ever overcome your serious stutter?”

 

His answer was simply, “It comes and goes. I find when I play a character other than myself, the stammering disappears. That may have been some of the inspiration for pursuing the career I did.”

 

Following in his father’s footsteps, Atkinson earned an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from The Queen’s College at Oxford. Still acting on the side, he embarked on a Ph.D. in electrical engineering for a while before deciding to devote his full attention to acting. He gained visibility by doing a series of comedy shows for BBC radio in 1978, known as “The Atkinson People.”

Atkinson came on to the television radar screen in 1979 with the famous show 'Not the Nine O’Clock News'. Later, he went off to do 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' before meeting up with Richard Curtis again for the immensely successful 'Blackadder', which the pair co-wrote.

Atkinson’s character of Mr. Bean existed for 10 years before the character was given a name. Mr. Bean catapulted Atkinson into international stardom as the show was seen all over the world. It was the highest-rated comedy on British TV in the 1990s; being sold to more than 245 countries and 50 airlines. Later, movies such as Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie (1997) and Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007) appeared. Amazingly, the actor has left the door open with the possibility of reprising Mr. Bean's role in the future.

 

There will never be another Mr. Bean, and with good reason. The man who made us laugh, cringe, and most importantly, facepalm has formed a legacy so rich that it may well remain embedded in the realm of television and comedy history for the decades to come.

 

One of the greatest things about Mr. Bean is the fact that he never cared a whit about what society thought of him. For this, he was the purest of the pure when it came to showing the world what any emotion truly represents. If he was happy, the air around him crackled with his laughter. If he was sad, he would cry a river in the middle of the town square. There was nothing adulterated when it came to Mr. Bean – a lesson we should all take with us to experience life and its conflicting emotions in all its defining glory.

 

Mr. Bean never saw the world in black or white. He was the embodiment of the many colors that it represented instead, a human rainbow lighting up an age of grey.