Maurice Herbert Evans (3 June 1901 – 12 March 1989) was an English
actor noted for his interpretations of
Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as
Dr. Zaius in
Planet of the Apes and as Samantha Stephens' father Maurice in
Bewitched.
Early years
Evans was born in
Dorchester, England to Laura Turner and Alfred Herbert Evans, an analytical chemist. 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. He also starred opposite Cornell in the 1935 production of
George Bernard Shaw's "
St. Joan."
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...
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