| Maurice Evans (actor) |
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Information AboutMaurice Evans (actor) |
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He first appeared on the stage in 1926 and joined the Old Vic Company in 1934. His first appearance on Broadway was in Romeo and Juliet in 1936. He was in plays by Shaw, and also Shakespeare's King Richard II (1937), Hamlet (1938), and Macbeth (1941). In World War II, he was in charge of an Army Entertainment Section in the Central Pacific. American television audiences of the 1960s will remember Evans as Samantha's father, Maurice, on the Sitcom '' Bewitched ''. He made a great impact as the evolved orangutan Dr. Zaius , in the 1968 cinema classic '' Planet Of The Apes ''. He died of cancer in England , aged 87. SHAKESPEAREAN PEDIGREE As of 2006, Evans appeared in more American television productions of Shakespeare than any other actor. For the famous television anthology, "Hallmark Hall of Fame", he starred in the first feature-length (i.e., more than an hour) dramatizations of the plays to ever be televised - "Hamlet", "Macbeth" (twice - both times with Judith Anderson as Lady Macbeth), "Richard II", "Twelfth Night", "The Taming of the Shrew", and "The Tempest". This last featured an all-star cast that included Lee Remick , Roddy McDowall , and Richard Burton . In bringing Shakespeare to television, he was a true pioneer, although Evans's performances in Shakespeare are not as highly regarded today as they once were, especially after Laurence Olivier became the twentieth century's pre-eminent Shakesperean actor. Evans also brought his Shakespeare productions to Broadway many times. Trivia: Ironically, he was/is most famous for portraying a warlock in "Bewitched", and for his role as Dr. Zaius in the original "Planet of the Apes". Younger audiences are totally unfamiliar with his appearances in Shakespeare's plays. In the thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968) he plays a friend of Rosemary ( Mia Farrow ), Hutch, who warns her against the witches in her apartment building, and is killed by them for his troubles. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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