Filmography › Orson Bean

All the book-based movies and TV shows featuring Orson Bean, ranked

Orson Bean appears in several titles adapted from the pages of books and comic books to the screen, such as The Hobbit or The Return of the King.
Here, we offer a ranked list, from best to worst, of 2 movies and TV series based on existing source material where Orson Bean appears. Revisit old favorites or discover hidden gems, whether books or film productions. We invite you to watch, read, and vote for any title, joining the debate of whether the book or the movie is better.
The Hobbit. Poster of the 1977 movie and cover of the 1937 book, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
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The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937
movie vs book
The Hobbit
Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr., 1977

Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit was just minding his own business, when his occasional visitor Gandalf the Wizard drops in one night. One by one, a whole group of dwarves drop in, and before he knows it, Bilbo has joined their quest to reclaim their kingdom, taken from them by the evil dragon Smaug. The only problem is that Gandalf has told the dwarves that Bilbo is an expert burglar, but he isn’t.

The Return of the King. Poster of the 1980 movie and cover of the 1955 book
VS3
The Return of the King
J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
movie vs book
The Return of the King
Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr., 1980

At Bilbo Baggins’s 129th birthday party in Rivendell, his nephew Frodo tells the story of the quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. In Mordor, Frodo’s friend and companion Samwise Gamgee bears the Ring in Frodo’s absence as he ventures to rescue Frodo from the Orc fortress of Cirith Ungol. During his journey, Sam is tempted to claim the Ring for himself.