Beckman won two Canadian Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor, in 1975 for Why Rock the Boat? and in 1978 for Blood and Guts. With his first wife, actress Cheryl Maxwell, Beckman founded the Dukes Oak Theater in Cooperstown, New York, and served as the theater company's producer.
He served with the Canadian Military during World War II, including the D-Day Landings at Juno Beach, Normandy, on 6 June 1944.
Beckman appeared in well over 100 productions in the United States and Canada, including recurring roles as Commander Paul Richards in the 1954 Flash Gordon space opera television series, Bob Mulligan in the ABC sitcom I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, George Anderson in the television adaptation of Peyton Place, Captain Clancey in the Western comedy-drama Here Come the Brides, and conniving United States Army Colonel Douglas Harrigan in McHale's Navy and Colonel Platt in the movie McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force.
He made four guest appearances on the CBS courtroom drama series Perry Mason, including the role of David the murderer in the 1960 episode "The Case of the Flighty Father" and as william March in the 1966 episode "The Case of the Dead Ringer".
In the 1980s he appeared in Kane & Abel, played the security guard Alf on the Don Adams sitcom Check It Out!, and was also a non-celebrity contestant on the TV game show Scrabble. He continued to act through his late seventies on shows like The Commish and MacGyver, and he had a recurring role in The X-Files for several seasons.
Beckman died in Barcelona, Spain on 17 June 2008 with his second wife Hillary at his side.
