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Maurice Evans (1901 - 1989)
Evans' father, a justice of the peace, was also an amateur playwright, and it was in his adaptations of Thomas Hardy's novels that the young Maurice had his earliest start as an actor. His first professional appearance on stage was in 1926. In 1927 he made his first appearance on the London stage. Critical and popular recognition came in 1928 with a performance in Journey's End, co-starring Laurence Olivier and Colin Clive and directed by James Whale. In 1934 Evans became a member of the Old Vic company. The following year he traveled to the United States and began performing on Broadway, where he won praise for his performances of Shakespeare and Shaw. These included the first full-length performance of Hamlet ever presented in an American theater, in 1938. After becoming a US citizen in 1941, Evans served as a major in the Army, where he ran the Central Pacific Theater division of the Army Entertainment Section. Here he entertained the troops with a shortened version of Hamlet. Following the war, Maurice Evans returned to Broadway, where he won additional praise for his performance in Shaw's Man and Superman in 1947. A special Tony award was given to him in 1950 for his achievements on the stage. In 1952 he began a highly successful 552 performance run in Dial M for Murder. He also co-produced The Teahouse of the August Moon in 1953, and No Time for Sergeants in 1955. Also in 1955, he began appearing on television in broadcast adaptations of his stage performances, most notably Hamlet, Richard II, Dial M for Murder, and The Tempest. Having made several films during his years in England, including 1935's Scrooge, he returned to the screen in 1951 in Kind Lady with Ethel Barrymore. In 1964, the role of Maurice on Bewitched went to Evans after Cesar Romero and Vincent Price had been considered for the part and Elizabeth Montgomery's own father Robert Montgomery had turned down the role. His character's flamboyant nature and penchant for dropping into renditions of Shakespeare gave Evans an opportunity at self-parody. He later recalled his time on the series with great fondness and delight. It was during this time that he also turned out the two film performances he would later be most identified with, Hutch in Rosemary's Baby and Dr. Zaius in Planet of the Apes, the later role having been obtained after illness and schedule conflicts forced the departure of Edward G. Robinson. Evans also made numerous other television appearances, including a "guest villian" spot on Batman as "The Puzzler." He later reprised his role as Dr. Zaius in the first Apes sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, in 1970. Following the cancellation of Bewitched in 1972, Maurice Evans continued to appear on stage and television. In 1979 he appeared in the Steve Martin hit comedy film The Jerk, and the following year in a tour of the Philip Barry play Holiday, as well as in the television movie The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything. Declining health, however, forced his dramatic and public appearances to become much more sporadic. His last appearance was in an epsiode of the 1988 War of the Worlds television series. In 1987 he published his memoirs, All This ... And Evans Too! After returning to England to live at a retirement home in Maidstone, - where, rumor has it, he was regularly visited by young rentboys, - Maurice Evans died from cancer at Rottingdean, East Sussex, in 1989. Maurice Evans' stage credits include Journey's End (1930); Romeo and Juliet (1935); St. Helena (1936); King Richard II (1937); King Henry IV, Part I (1940); Hamlet (1939-1940); King Richard II (1940); Twelfth Night (1940-1941); Macbeth (1941-1942); Hamlet, condensed version (1945, 1946); Man and Superman (1947); The Linden Tree (1948); The Browning Version / Harlequinade (1949); The Devil's Disciple (1950); Dial M for Murder (1952); The Apple Cart (1956); Heartbreak House (1959); Tenderloin (1960); The Aspern Papers (1962); and Holiday (1980). His film credits include White Cargo (1930); Should a Doctor Tell? (1930); Raise the Roof (1930); Marry Me (1932); Wedding Rehearsal (1933); Heart Song (1933); Ich und die Kaiserin (aka The Empress and I, 1933); Path of Glory (1934); Scrooge (1935); Checkmate (1935); Bypass to Happiness (1935); Kind Lady (1951); Androcles and the Lion (1952); The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953); The War Lord (1965); One of Our Spies Is Missing (1966); Traidores de San Ángel, Los (1967); Jack of Diamonds (1967); Planet of the Apes (1968); Tarzan and the Four O'Clock Army (1968); Rosemary's Baby (1968); Thin Air (1969); Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970); Terror in the Wax Museum (1973); and The Jerk (1979). His television credits include Hamlet (1953); Macbeth (1954); Richard II (1954); Alice in Wonderland (1955); The Taming of the Shrew (1956); Twelfth Night (1957); The Tempest (1960); U.M.C. (1969); The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970); The Six Million Dollar Man: Solid Gold Kidnapping (1973); The Canterville Ghost (1974); Columbo: Forgotten Lady (1975); The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980); and Caribbean Mystery, A (1983), plus his regular role of Maurice on "Bewitched," and numerous guest appearances on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Batman," "Daniel Boone," "I Spy," "The Big Valley," "Mod Squad," "The Streets of San Francisco," "The Love Boat," and "War of the Worlds." Internet Movie Database - Maurice Evans Find A Death: Elizabeth Montgomery and the Cast of Bewitched
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Entry updated 30 April, 2004
