Ben Horne

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Benjamin Horne (played by Richard Beymer) is a fictional character on the 1990-1991 prime-time ABC series Twin Peaks. A fervent capitalist, his business schemes lead Twin Peaks to a number of potential disasters. He is the father of Audrey, who he tends to leave to her own devices, and Johnny who is severely mentally handicapped. He has a very close relationship with his brother Jerry. He is married to Sylvia, who is not featured in the series very much.

As well as running the hotel, and the local department store, Horne also runs a brothel called “One Eyed Jacks,” that is a major location for several plot-lines throughout the series.

As the series begins, Ben is seen to be cold-blooded, ruthless, and criminal. While having an affair with Catherine Packard Martell, owner of the Packard Mill, he is also in bed with Catharine’s sister in law Josie Packard, and he is manipulating both of them as part of his plan to obtain the Packard Mill, and Ghostwood, the land on which it stands. Ben, Hank Jennings, and Josie all seem to have been involved in the death of Catherine’s brother Andrew (Josie’s husband, and the original owner of the mill). In addition to playing Catherine and Josie against each other, Ben is also involved in criminal enterprises with Leo Johnson, Hank Jennings, the Renault brothers, and Black Rose. Ultimately, Ben orders Leo Johnson to burn down the mill, orders Hank Jennings to ensure Catharine will be killed in the fire, and finally orders Hank to kill Leo.

Though the mill burns, it is not entirely destroyed. Catharine disappears, but no body is found, and Leo is put into a coma, but does not die. Ben’s plans are complicated by Catharine’s not signing her insurance policy, and by his being arrested for Laura Palmer’s murder.

Things soon to begin to unravel for Ben as the second season progresses. Following Audrey’s abduction by Jean Renault, Ben was forced to deal with the knowledge his daughter was aware of his more illegal business practices. Though never suspected of the many crimes he was responsible for, he was arrested for the one crime he did not commit, and as a result, his plans for the Ghostwood development fell through. Traumatized by this string of misfortunes, Ben suffered a severe nervous breakdown. As a result, he comes to believes he is fighting the American Civil War in which the South emerges victorious, a delusion that takes the combined efforts of Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, Audrey, his brother Jerry, and Bobby Briggs for him to ultimately snap out of. Following this, he becomes an environmentalist (that is implied at being a front for ruining Catherine Martell’s plans for the Ghostwood project), but overall he does appear to making a genuine effort to “be good.”

As the series draws to a close, Ben suggests to Donna Hayward that he might in fact be her biological father, a suspicion that had been slowly growing in Donna’s mind. This immediately draws him into conflict with Doc Hayward, and Donna’s mother, Eileen Hayward. Both men come to blows in the Hayward family home in the last episode, with Ben suffering a severe blow to the head on a fireplace as a result of the violent confrontation. The full extent of this injury, and even if it was indeed fatal, is unclear.

[edit] Trivia

In the Spanish-dubbed version of Twin Peaks, the character is dubbed by the same dubbing actor as the Homer Simpson from The Simpson's series.