(1901–89). The English-born actor Maurice Evans became one of the best-known Shakespearean actors in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. He re-created many of his stage roles on American television in the 1950s and appeared in several motion pictures.
Evans was born on June 3, 1901, in Dorchester, England. He became involved in the theater at an early age and obtained his first professional role in 1926. He first achieved recognition as Lieutenant Raleigh in R.C. Sherriff’s play Journey’s End (1929) in London. Evans acted with the Old Vic dramatic company in 1934 and then went to the United States in 1935. There he played lead roles in a series of highly successful Broadway productions of Shakespearean plays directed by Margaret Webster, including Richard II and Henry IV, Part I in 1937 and, in 1938, the first full-length version of Hamlet to be presented in the modern American theater. In the following years he performed in Twelfth Night and Macbeth as well on Broadway.
Evans became an American citizen in 1941 and entertained United States troops in the Pacific during World War II with a shortened version of Hamlet. His greatest commercial success on stage was the suspense drama Dial M for Murder (1952), which ran on Broadway for 552 performances. Evans re-created a number of his stage successes on American television, including The Taming of the Shrew (1956), Twelfth Night (1957), and Macbeth (1960), for which he won an Emmy award. From 1964 to 1972 he made guest appearances on the television series Bewitched. He acted in a number of motion pictures as well, including Planet of the Apes (1968), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). Evans died in Rottingdean, England, on March 12, 1989.