According to IMDB, Beesley was on the set of "A Night to Remember," which is considered the most accurate of all Titanic films. He allegedly tried to jump into the scene depicting the ship's sinking, in order to symbolically go down with the ship. Legend has it that director Roy Ward Baker refused, as it would have been a union violation and could have halted filming.

Beesley was a survivor from the second class, and wrote a memoir about his experience entitled "The Loss of the SS Titanic."