Terry O'Reilly

The character was similar to Mr. Bean, only with dialogue.

Then in the mid-80s, Atkinson first performed his character as Mr. Bean at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a famous trial ground for comedians and actors.

It went over well.

Then, in 1987, Atkinson did an interesting experiment at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

Because Canada is bilingual, Atkinson asked if he could perform his Mr. Bean character on the French stage, even though he spoke no French.

He wanted to know if his bumbling, wordless character worked in front of a non-English audience.

And it did.

It was a huge hit.

That proved Mr. Bean's physical comedy just might work around the world.

Rowan Atkinson began his performing life as a choir boy at the Durham Cathedral in the northeast of England, where one of his fellow choir members was the future Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

While Atkinson was studying engineering, he was always doing humorous impersonations to amuse his school friends, and he acted in school plays.

When he later went to Oxford to do an engineering PhD, he got involved with the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

There, he met comedy writer Richard Curtis, who would go on to write and direct movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually.

Atkinson and Curtis became lifelong friends and collaborators.

The first official TV appearance of Mr. Bean was on January 1, 1990.

It was a half-hour special for Thames Television.

Subsequent episodes of Mr. Bean appeared sporadically, between one and four times a year.

The shows were co-written by Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis, and Robin Driscoll.

Hard to believe, but there were only 15 episodes of the Mr. Bean TV show in total.

Despite that tiny archive, Mr. Bean captivated the world.