Rex Everhart

{{Infobox person

| image = Publicity_Photo_of_Rex_Everhart.jpg

| caption = Publicity Photo of Rex Everhart

| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|6|13|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Watseka, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|3|13|1920|6|13|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Branford, Connecticut, U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist|Actor}}

| years_active = 1939–1997

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Jill Reardon|1944|1957|reason=divorced}}
{{marriage|Claire Everhart|1962}}

}}

| children = 1

}}

Rex Everhart (June 13, 1920 – March 13, 2000) was an American film and theatre actor.

Everhart appeared in such films as Superman, in 1978. He was also known for his role as Enos the Truck-Driver in the horror film, Friday the 13th (1980). He provided the voice of Maurice, Belle's father, in the 1991 musical animated Disney film, Beauty and the Beast.

Everhart performed in numerous roles on Broadway including 1776, Chicago, Woman of the Year and the revival of Anything Goes. He was nominated for a 1978 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical) for Working.

Early life and education

Everhart was born on June 13, 1920, in Watseka, Illinois, to Dr. Arthur McKinley Everhart and Jeanette M. (née Dodson) Everhart. His mother died when Everhart was 15.{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/261839343 |title=Journal and Courier |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=7 November 1935}} Everhart attended Western Military Academy{{cite web

|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/261844367 |title=Journal and Courier |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=3 October 1935}} in 1935 and graduated in 1938. Everhart studied at the University of Missouri. He received a degree in theater at the Pasadena Playhouse and a bachelor's and master's degrees at New York University. He studied acting in Manhattan with Paul Mann, Martin Ritt and Curt Conway.

Career

Everhart started his theatre career in 1939, worked in regional and repertory theaters including the Phoenix Theater, Yale Repertory Theater and seven seasons at The American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. Everhart also served to 1st lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II from 1942 to 1947. He appeared in Pasadena Playhouse productions, acted and directed shows for NYU and acted at Sarah Stamms Theatre in Newport, Rhode Island, and at the Margo Jones Theatre in Dallas. Having made his 1955 Broadway debut in No Time for Sergeants, Everhart's other Broadway shows included Anything Goes, Rags and Woman of the Year. Reviewing the Shakespeare Theater's production of The Comedy of Errors in The New York Times in 1963, Howard Taubman wrote, "Rex Everhart handles the two Dromios with unfailing comic gusto." And in 1964, reviewing Much Ado About Nothing, Taubman said that as the constable Dogberry, Everhart "somehow pries a grin out of us even when we know every simple-minded joke that is coming." In 1969, he was the understudy to Howard Da Silva in the role of Benjamin Franklin in the musical 1776. Da Silva suffered a heart attack just before the show's opening, and Everhart took over the role until Da Silva was well enough to return. Because of Da Silva's illness, Everhart performed the role on the original Broadway cast recording (Da Silva was finally able to record the role when 1776 was filmed in 1972). When 1776 was revived on Broadway in 1997, Everhart again served as the understudy for the role of Benjamin Franklin. In 1978, Everhart was nominated for a Featured Actor Tony Award for his role in the musical, Working.

The actor's television career, which started back in days of live broadcasting, included series, plays, films, soap operas and TV commercials. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Everhart appeared in several commercials for Snickers and Snickers Munch Peanut Brittle. Appearing in 16 feature films, Everhart gave his last film performance as the voice of Belle's father, Maurice in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast.

Personal life

Everhart married Jill Reardon on February 11, 1944. The two divorced in 1957 and had no children. In 1960, he met actress Claire Violet (née Richard), when they were appearing in the Broadway musical Tenderloin. They were married on December 21, 1962 and had a daughter named Degan, born in 1966. Everhart lived for 37 years in Westport, Connecticut.

Death

Everhart died of lung cancer on March 13, 2000, at age 79, three months short of his 80th birthday.

Filmography and performances

=Stage=

Year	Title	Role	Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
1955–1957	No Time for Sergeants	A Colonel, Lt. Abel, Sergeant King	Also was Assistant Stage Manager.
1959	Tall Story	Clark
1959	The Moonbirds	Mr. Perisson
1959	Lysistrata	Drunk
1959–1960	Pictures in the Hallway	Principal
1960	Peer Gynt	Aslak, Herr Von Eberkopf
1960	Henry IV, Part 1	Bardolph
1960	Henry IV, Part 2	Bardolph
1960–1961	Tenderloin	Joe
1963	A Rainy Day in Newark	Lionel Davis, John T. Kodiak
1965–1966	Skyscraper	Stanley
1967–1968	How Now, Dow Jones	Bradbury
1969–1972	1776	Benjamin Franklin	Rex Everhart, who was Da Silva's understudy, replaced him on the original Broadway cast album after Da Silva suffered a mild heart attack, which required him to leave the show temporarily. Everhart would also play in the 1997 revival.
1973–1974	The Iceman Cometh	Pat McGloin
1975–1977	Chicago	Amos Hart
1978	Working	Herb Rosen, Booker Page	Nominated – Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
1981–1983	Woman of the Year	Maury
1985	The Playboy of the Western World	Michael James Flaherty
1986	Rags	"Big Tim" Sullivan
1987–1989	Anything Goes	Elisha Whitney