Biographical note

James Andrews Beard was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1903. He was the son of Mary Elizabeth Beard, who had run a boardinghouse in Portland before he was born, and John Beard, a customs inspector. Beard was influenced from an early age by his mother's passion for cooking and food; by the family's Chinese chef, Jue-Let; and the family's summers in Gearhart, Oregon. Beard also knew from an early age that he was gay, as he would discuss in audio recordings for a never-completed memoir. He graduated from Washington High School in Portland, then briefly attended Reed College, from which he was expelled in 1921, during his freshman year. Officially, Reed gave the reason as poor academic performance, but the expulsion followed the discovery of an affair between Beard and a male professor.

After leaving Reed, he pursued a career in theater. The pursuit took him to London, England, Paris, France, and Hollywood, California. He performed in operas, stage plays, and movies. In 1929, he returned to Portland, and continued acting, with a side of set designing and directing, at the Portland Civic Theater.

From 1932 to 1937, he taught private cooking classes in Portland. In 1937, he moved to New York, New York, and briefly pursued a career in theater. In 1939, he and a friend operated a catering business, Hors D’Oeuvre, Inc., until the U.S. joined World War II. During the war, he served as a cryptologist for the U.S. Army. After his discharge in 1943, he returned to New York City, and in 1945, he became the first chef to cook before a live audience on the show “Elsie Presents.” In 1955, he became the proprietor of James Beard Cooking Classes in New York City. Widely known as the “dean of American cooking,” he authored over two dozen cookbooks. He also wrote a weekly food column, which was syndicated in many newspapers around the United States. His autobiography, “Delights and Prejudices,” was published in 1964. Beginning in the 1970s, he returned to Oregon each summer to teach cooking classes at Seaside High School. Beard died in 1985.

Sources: Information provided by Beard in his interview; "James Beard, Dean of U.S. Cookery, Dies," by Daniel P. Puzo, Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1985 (accessed October 17, 2025), https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-01-24-mn-11207-story.html; “Friends, associates fondly recall Beard,” by Steve Erickson, The Oregonian, January 24, 1985, Page D6; Beard’s obituary in Reed Magazine, by Randall S. Barton (accessed October 17, 2025), https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/in-memoriam/obituaries/_online_only/james-beard-1924.html; "The James Beard Celebration Cookbook," by the James Beard Foundation, edited by Barbara Kafka (New York: William & Morrow, Inc., 1990), pages 15, 24 and 34); "James Beard (1903-1985)," by Jim Scheppke, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/beard_james_1903_1985_/; "Author John Birdsall on James Beard's Gay Identity and Oregon Roots, " by Catherine Chew Hamilton, Portland Monthly, September 30, 2020 (accessed October 2025), https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/09/author-john-birdsall-on-james-beard-s-gay-identity-and-oregon-roots

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