Maurice Evans

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Maurice Herbert Evans (born June 3, 1901 in Dorchester , Dorset , England , † March 12, 1989 in Rottingdean , East Sussex , England ) was a British-American film and theater actor and film producer .

Life

Maurice Evans grew up as the son of a justice of the peace and passionate playwright, through whom he came into contact with acting. As a boy Evans sang in St. Andrew's Choir and later on stage in his father's plays.

In 1926 Evans made his debut as a professional actor, and was mostly on stage in London . In order to be able to stay afloat financially, Evans worked as a laborer in a cleaning company. 1929 was a year Evans became a full-time actor. He worked in twelve British films between 1930 and 1935, but was mainly on stage at the Old Vic Theater . In 1935 Evans emigrated to the United States , where he was also successful on Broadway . Evans was particularly fond of plays by George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare . He was often featured in leading roles from Hamlet to Macbeth . The trademark of the internationally recognized character actor was his particularly lyrical way of speaking.

In 1941, shortly before the outbreak of the American Second World War , Evans received American citizenship. During the Pacific War , the actor acted as an entertainer for the troupe and appeared with his theater group in various military bases. He was able to make it to the military rank of major . Evans continued his successful theater career in America, next to Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud he was one of the most famous exponents of British theater in the USA. He won two Tony Awards and is considered the actor who portrayed Richard II most often on stage.

In 1951, Evans made his US film debut. Because of his success as a Shakespearean actor, Evans achieved in the 1950s and 1960s that he could produce some Shakespeare plays as ambitious television films. In these television productions he played the main role, around 1953 in Hamlet and 1954 in Richard II. He had guest roles in other television series such as Fantasy Island , Batman , Columbo , Solo for ONCEL and In Love with a Witch . In the cinema, Maurice Evans was mainly seen in prominent supporting roles. In 1965 he played with Charlton Heston in the knight film The Normans Are Coming . He was to get his best-known film role in 1968: In Franklin J. Schaffner's science fiction epic Planet of the Apes, as well as in the 1970 sequel, Return to the Planet of the Apes , Evans portrayed the orangutan Zaius, but was due to the strong makeup barely visible. He also played another well-known role as Hutch , the mysteriously dying friend of the main character Rosemarie, in the classic horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968).

In the early 1980s, Evans retired from acting and returned to England. It was here that Evans died of natural causes in 1989 at the age of 87. The actor was never married and never had any children.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maurice Evans at Allmovie
personal data
SURNAME Evans, Maurice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Evans, Maurice Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-American actor and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Dorchester , Dorset, England, UK
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1989
Place of death Rottingdean , East Sussex, England, United Kingdom