Maurice Evans

Maurice Evans
Evans as Falstaff
Born	Maurice Herbert Evans 3 June 1901(1901-06-03) Dorchester, Dorset, England
Died	12 March 1989 (aged 87) Rottingdean, East Sussex, England, UK
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1926-1983

Maurice Herbert Evans (3 June 1901 – 12 March 1989) was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters.

Early years

Evans was born in Dorchester, England to Laura Turner and Alfred Herbert Evans, an analytical chemist.^[1] He first appeared on the stage in 1926 and joined the Old Vic Company in 1934, playing Hamlet, Richard II and Iago.

Career

His first appearance on Broadway was in Romeo and Juliet opposite Katharine Cornell in 1936, but he made his biggest impact in Shakespeare's Richard II, a production whose unexpected success was the surprise of the 1937 theatre season and allowed Evans to play Hamlet (1938) (the first time that the play was performed uncut on the New York stage), Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I (1939), Macbeth (1941), and Malvolio in Twelfth Night (1942) opposite the Viola of Helen Hayes, all under the direction of Margaret Webster.

When World War II began, he was in charge of an Army Entertainment Section in the Central Pacific and played his famous "G.I. version" of Hamlet that cut the text of the play to make the eponymous title character more appealing to the troops, an interpretation so popular that he later took it to Broadway in 1945. He then shifted his attention to the works of Shaw, notably as John Tanner in Man and Superman and as King Magnus in The Apple Cart. In 1952 he starred as the murderous husband in the original stage-play version of Dial M for Murder. He was also a successful Broadway producer of productions in which he did not appear, notably Teahouse of the August Moon.

American television audiences of the 1960s will remember Evans as Samantha's father, Maurice (the character was originally named Victor when he was introduced), on the sitcom Bewitched. He also played the "Puzzler" on Batman. Many younger viewers discovering these programmes in syndication are unaware of Evans' Shakespearean pedigree. His real-life insistence that his first name was pronounced the same as the name "Morris" was ironically at odds with his Bewitched character's contrasting stance that it be pronounced "Maw-REESE".

Evans had great impact onscreen as well, memorably in two 1968 films: as the evolved orangutan, Dr. Zaius in Planet of the Apes (and the 1970 sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes) and as the doomed "Hutch", who attempts to warn his friend, the title character, Rosemary Woodhouse, in the thriller Rosemary's Baby of the true Satanic nature of her neighbors, Roman and Minnie Castavet (played by Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon).

Evans appeared in more American television productions of Shakespeare than any other actor. Beginning in 1953, for the famous television anthology, Hallmark Hall of Fame, he starred in the first feature-length (i.e., longer than an hour) dramatizations of the plays to ever be presented on American television. They were:

• Hamlet
• Macbeth (twice - both times with Judith Anderson winning an Emmy twice as Lady Macbeth,^[2] and winning Evans an Emmy Award for the latter, 1960 production)
• Richard II
• Twelfth Night (as Malvolio)
• The Taming of the Shrew (as Petruchio, opposite Lilli Palmer as Katherine)
• The Tempest (as Prospero). This last featured an all-star cast that included Lee Remick as Miranda, Roddy McDowall as Ariel, and Richard Burton as Caliban.

In bringing Shakespeare to television, he was a true pioneer. He firmly believed that it was an actor's job to "lead public taste, not to play to public taste". ^[3] Evans also brought his Shakespeare productions to Broadway many times, playing Hamlet on the Great White Way in four separate productions for a record grand total of 283 performances.

Personal life

At the end of the 1960s, Evans returned to England. Aside from an infrequent trip to the United States and occasional visits to retired actors in financial need (as a representative of the Actors Fund, of which he was a longtime trustee), he lived quietly in the Surrey countryside, near Brighton.^[4]

Never married, he was survived by a brother, Hugh, of London.

Death

Maurice Evans died of heart failure as a result of a bronchial infection, at aged 87 in Rottingdean, East Sussex, England, although some source, such as IMDb cite cancer as the cause of death.

References

1. ^ "Maurice Evans Biography". Film Reference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/62/Maurice-Evans.html. Retrieved 2009-01-08. 
2. ^ http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/awardsearch.php
3. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/14/obituaries/maurice-evans-stage-actor-dies-at-87.html
4. ^ Obituary in New York Times

External links

• Maurice Evans at Find a Grave
• Maurice Evans at the Internet Broadway Database
• Performances in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• Maurice Evans at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary in New York Times