At the beginning of “Tulsa King,” Invernizzi family capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) is released from prison after 25 years. But when he meets up with his bosses, instead of staying in New York, Dwight is asked to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to set up operations.
On arriving there, Dwight’s first hire for his new crew is Tyson Mitchell (Jay Will), a young taxi driver who starts helping the older gangster. Tyson wants to make a name for himself, but his father, Mark, is understandably concerned about his association with Dwight.
Mark still helps Tyson and the rest of the crew when the Black Macadam bikers steal from them. Armed with bats, they beat up the bikers and take back their money and nitrous tanks. But Tyson ultimately chooses Dwight when Mark offers to bring him home.
Actor Michael Beach’s role as Mark is somehow one of 162 screen credits. Here’s where you’ve seen him before.
He overturns a desk in Lean On Me
Michael Beach’s first official credit was for the 1986 TV movie “Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo” playing Rudolph Tyner. But one of his first big screen roles is in 1989’s high school drama “Lean On Me.”
The actor plays Mr. Larry Darnell, the English teacher at the declining and increasingly dangerous Eastside High School. When the school hires Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman) as principal, he institutes several radical measures to get Eastside back into shape.
One of these is punishing teachers who don’t follow his rules. After Darnell picks up a piece of trash during an assembly, Clark suspends him for moving around at all during the school song. In a memorable scene, an enraged Darnell turns the principal’s desk over on its side and walks out.
However, with this incident, as well as his decision to fire music teacher Mrs. Elliott (Robin Bartlett), Clark may have finally gone too far. Furious, school superintendent Dr. Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume) insists that he reinstate Darnell, and he ultimately does.
Beach was a memorably adulterous husband in Waiting to Exhale
Michael Beach continued to land roles in prominent movies of the 1990s, including “Internal Affairs” and “True Romance.” Arguably one of his most famous roles from that decade is as Bernardine “Bernie” Harris’ (Angela Bassett) unfaithful husband, John Harris, in “Waiting to Exhale.”
Bernie gave up everything to raise a family and help John with his business. But one day, John declares that he’s leaving her for a female co-worker. Bernie is enraged and the pair begin a truly messy, dramatic divorce in the process.
First Bernie sets fire to some of his belongings, including his car, before virtually giving away everything else. John then withdraws all of their money from both accounts in retaliation.
Eventually, Bernie and John negotiate, with Bernie earning a large settlement from her ex-husband. Beach still remembers though how people treated him differently after the movie was released. Clearly, John’s behavior had touched a nerve with audiences. “I was often verbally attacked and a couple of times smacked on the shoulder or the back of the head by strangers in public,” he told ZORA in 2020.
He played another unfaithful husband on ER
Obviously, Michael Beach’s role in “Waiting to Exhale” received some blowback from audiences. Nevertheless, in 1995, he signed on to play another unfaithful husband, Al Boulet, on NBC’s hit series “ER.” The part had previously been played by Wolfgang Bodison before Beach appeared on the show from Seasons 2 through 4.
Al is married to Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Reuben), but neither of them are happy, in part because of Al’s philandering. Jeanie begins an affair with Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), but they break up when she refuses to leave her husband.
However, Al is admitted to the ER and diagnosed HIV positive from a sexual encounter outside his marriage. Jeanie discovers that she is positive as well. The two separate, though they later try to reconcile before finally calling it quits.
Al doesn’t appear after the 4th season, but Jeanie says in her Season 14 guest appearance that Al died offscreen two years prior due to complications from HIV.
The actor shot 103 episodes of Third Watch
Despite playing several memorable and rather adulterous characters, Michael Beach doesn’t actually mind playing villainous or unlikeable people. The actor told Black Doctor, “I’ve been hated on social media but I don’t put much stock in it; I don’t argue with people on social media and it’s not my job, it’s not up to me to determine how people feel about a character that I play.”
Still, he did get to show a warmer, more tender side in his regular role as Monte “Doc” Parker on NBC’s “Third Watch.” Beach played the firehouse’s paramedic supervisor for 103 episodes, though he left the show during Season 5.
The supervisor is originally partnered with rookie Carlos Nieto (Anthony Michael Ruivivar) at the beginning of the show. Doc is an excellent paramedic but caring to a fault, as he feels everything very deeply and tends to blame himself when things go wrong.
After a series of traumatic incidents, Doc finally snaps and tries to prevent the possible closing of the firehouse by taking Captain Steeper (Paul Michael Glaser) hostage at gunpoint. Sully (Skipp Sudduth) then convinces Doc to surrender peacefully, and he’s committed to Bellevue Memorial Hospital.
He’s Black Manta’s father in Aquaman
Michael Beach only appears in DC’s watery blockbuster “Aquaman” for 10 minutes, but as Jesse Kane, the father of David Kane, aka supervillain Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), he obviously has a major impact on the rest of the film’s plot.
Jesse and David are mercenary pirates hired to hijack a Russian submarine. During the operation, Jesse gives David an old combat knife that he inherited from his own father. They may be criminals, but Jesse is clearly a loving father who’s close to his son.
When Aquaman (Jason Momoa) enters the ship, the pair immediately enter into combat with the super-powered Atlantean. After a heated fight, Aquaman severely injures Jesse, impaling him with a spear before sending a missile down on his chest. David begs Aquaman for help freeing his father, but he leaves them to die.
With the submarine quickly filling with water, David struggles in vain to save his father. Ultimately, Jesse unpins a grenade so David will leave his side, sacrificing himself so his son can live. However, before he dies, he also tells David to kill Aquaman in revenge. This causes David to become Black Manta and pursue his vengeance.
The actor is the prison warden on Mayor of Kingstown
Before joining “Tulsa King” as a recurring character, Michael Beach also co-starred on another Taylor Sheridan series. The leader of the Kingstown prison guards, Captain Kareem Moore appears on “Mayor of Kingstown” for 12 episodes.
Even in a notoriously corrupt town, Moore’s team is known for its use of force and brutality against incarcerated prisoners. They often will do nothing as well when people there are murdered. At the end of Season 1, however, a riot breaks out because of this treatment. The bloody result is the death of many Kingstown gang leaders as well as Moore being repeatedly assaulted by the inmates.
The captain is traumatized by the incident, but nevertheless becomes the Interim Warden of the battered prison during Season 2. As Warden, Moore works with Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) on bringing Kingstown Prison back to stability, but he’s always pursuing his own agenda and is an uneasy ally for the “Mayor.” It remains to be seen if Moore will betray Mike or become a bigger part of his plans for Kingstown.