Beverly Marsh is a main character from the It book, written by Stephen King. The book was adapted to a miniseries in 1990 and two films in 2017 and 2019. In the miniseries she was portrayed by Emily Perkins (child) and Annette O' Toole (adult), in the films by Sophia Lillis (child) and Jessica Chastain (adult).
Biography[]
Beverly is a member of The Losers Club in Stephen King's IT. She and Dez are the only female members of the group and Beverly is sexually abused by her father, Alvin Marsh. She helps the guys to defeat Pennywise the first time as kids to show that they are not afraid of him anymore. She returns to Derry, Maine 27 years later as a adult to help out the remaining members of The Losers Club to defeat Pennywise for the final time.
Films[]
IT Mini Series[]
IT: Chapter One[]
Beverly is first seen by harassed by her rival Gretta in the girl's bathroom. Then, as she is leaving, she runs into a chubby boy, Ben Hanscom, AKA "The New Kid"; she jokes around with him after discovering he's listening to A New Kids On The Block song, and signs his yearbook.
While Bill, Eddie, and Stanley are at the local pharmacy to get some things for Ben after their nemesis Henry Bowers tortured him, Beverly comes into the aisle where they are to avoid Gretta, then distracts Gretta's father, the pharmacy owner, long enough for the three of them to sneak out; as they attend to Ben's injuries, she drops in on them again, and Bill invites her to come swimming with them at the lake the next day. She joins the five boys as they stand at the edge of a cliff overlooking the lake and gracefully jumps off to encourage them to do the same. After swimming, they go to Ben's house, where he shows them more of Derry's history, and Beverly discovers that Ben does, in fact, have an interest in The New Kids On The Block.
That night, Beverly finds that Ben slipped a postcard with a poetic love letter in her backpack. She then overhears voices coming from her bathroom sink. Investigating the voices, she is suddenly attacked by tendrils of clotted blood, then blood sprays out of the drain, in her face, and all over the bathroom. In the morning, she summons the boys to her apartment, and they help her clean the bathroom, then rescue Mike Hanlon from Henry and his henchmen.
On the Fourth of July, the seven of them notice that kids seem to be disappearing very frequently. Ben relays his knowledge of incidents from the past, and states that these events, mysteriously, only happen every twenty-seven years. They realize the culprit responsible for the disappearances is the demonic clown that some of them have been seeing, who they call "It", and conclude that It takes the form of their greatest fears, and hides out at the Well House on Neibolt Street. After being attacked by Pennywise, they go to the house to face him. Their incursion results in Eddie getting his arm broken, luckily Beverly stabs the clown before he can devour Bill and Richie. Escaping from the house, Beverly tries to convince the group to stay strong if they want to stop Pennywise, but Richie, Stanley, Ben, and Mike defect from the group after an argument.
In August, Beverly gets into a fight with her father, leading to her presumably killing him with a toilet tank lid, after which, she is taken hostage by Pennywise, prompting the group to reunite and save her. She regains consciousness in Pennywise's hideout in the sewers, and tries to escape, only to be ambushed by Pennywise, who paralyzes her with his Deadlights. Fortunately, she is released from the effects when Ben kisses her. They are then confronted by It in the form of Bill's late little brother, Georgie. They attempt to fight back, only to be overpowered; Pennywise offers to spare them in exchange for Bill. Refusing to back down, the seven defeat Pennywise, sending It into early hibernation.
In September, Beverly tells the others that while she was paralyzed, she envisioned them fighting It as adults, prompting Bill to have them make a vow that if It ever returns, they'll reunite to vanquish the being once and for all. As Beverly prepares to leave for Portland, Bill takes the last chance to show her how he feels about her by kissing her, causing her to kiss him back.
IT: Chapter Two[]
During the past twenty years, Beverly becomes a fashion designer in New York. In the middle of night, she gets a phone call from Mike to come back to Derry as Pennywise has reawakened. As she packs her things, her husband, Tom Rogan, wakes up and gets curious about why she's packing, leading to a confrontation between them that ends with Beverly divorcing him.
Arriving at a Chinese restaurant, she reunites with Ben, who greets her with the same words she said to him when they first met, as Richie arrives. As the six of them have dinner, they catch up on their lives, and Mike helps them get their memories of their childhood back. Their fortune cookies yield notes that Stanley was unable to conquer his fears. Outside, Beverly calls his wife to find out that he killed himself in the bathtub the day before. At their hotel, Ben points out that Beverly knew how Stan died, to which she says she saw all of them die, much to the surprise of Richie and Eddie. Mike reveals these visions Beverly is having are a result of her exposure to the Deadlights all those years ago, and tells them about the Ritual of Chüd that the Shokopiwah Native American tribe who first fought It performed.
Collecting Stanley's shower cap from their clubhouse in the woods, Mike tells them that the ritual requires them to sacrifice items from their childhood, and that to find their artifacts, they have to split up and recount what they did while they were apart after first going to the Well House, despite Richie's suggestion that they go together as a group. Beverly returns to her former apartment, now inhabited by an elderly woman named Mrs. Kersh, and finds the love letter Ben gave her; while having tea and cookies with Mrs. Kersh, the woman turns out to be It.
Eventually, after a series of frightening shenanigans, including scuffles with an adult Henry Bowers (whom Richie kills as he tries to kill Mike), the six return to the Well House to face Pennywise in a fight to the end. Reaching the cistern where they first fought It, the Witch form of Mrs. Kersh tries to drown Beverly, but the others, save for Eddie, stop her. They discover a new passageway that leads to an underground cavern containing the meteor that brought It to Earth millions of years ago, where they perform the ritual. Unfortunately, the ritual fails, and Pennywise makes Mike reveal that the Shokopiwah died trying. It then traps Beverly in a bathroom stall and tries to drown her in blood while taunting her, while Ben is about to be buried alive in their clubhouse. They manage to escape as Ben reveals his feelings for Beverly, and she rescues him, finding out he wrote the love letter, not Bill.
Eddie, who was fatally impaled saving Richie from the Deadlights during the latter's attempt to protect Mike, reveals another way to stop Pennywise: make him feel small. The other five proceed to mock and insult Pennywise, causing him to shrink until he is reduced to a helpless infant form. Mike removes It's heart so the five of them can destroy it, causing It to perish. They reluctantly leave Eddie, who died while they were dealing with Pennywise, behind as It's demise causes the cave to collapse, destroying the Well House as well. The survivors of the group go for a swim at the lake to get cleaned up. Walking through town, they notice the scars on their hands from their blood oath as kids have vanished as a result of Pennywise's death. Disbanding again, Beverly and Ben begin a romantic relationship, Richie carves his and Eddie's initials at the Kissing Bridge again as a memorial for his late friend, Bill improves his novel, and Mike makes plans to leave Derry.