Gene Evans

Biography

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Gene Evans (July 11, 1922 - April 1, 1998) was an American actor. He was born in Holbrook, Arizona, but reared in Colton, California. His acting career began while he was serving in World War II. He performed with a theatrical troupe of GIs in Europe. Evans made his film debut in 1947 and appeared in dozens of movies and television programs. He specialized in playing tough guys like cowboys, sheriffs, convicts and sergeants. Evans appeared in numerous films produced, directed, and written by Samuel Fuller. In his memoirs A Third Face, Fuller described meeting Evans when casting his Korean War film The Steel Helmet in 1950. Fuller threw an M1 Garand rifle at Evans, who caught it and inspected it as a soldier would have done. Evans had been a U.S. Army engineer in the war. Fuller kept Evans and refused John Wayne for the role. and fighting to keep him despite Robert L. Lippert and his partner wanting Larry Parks for the role. Fuller walked off the film and would not return until Evans was reinstated. Evans also appeared in Fuller's Fixed Bayonets!, Hell and High Water, Shock Corridor and lost thirty pounds to play the lead in Park Row. Evans portrayed the authoritarian but wise father, Rob McLaughlin, on the 1956-1957 television series My Friend Flicka, based on a Western novel and film of the same name set in Wyoming. He appeared with Anita Louise (1915–1970) as his wife, Nell, Johnny Washbrook (born 1944) as his son, Ken, and fellow character actor Frank Ferguson (1899–1978), as the ranch handyman, Gus Broeberg, who addressed Evans as "Captain". In 1958, Evans co-starred as Major Al Arthur in the film Damn Citizen based on the life of crusading Louisiana State Police superintendent Francis Grevemberg. Keith Andes starred as Grevemberg. In the fall of 1976, Evans starred in the eleven-episode CBS adventure series Spencer's Pilots, with Christopher Stone, Todd Susman, and Britt Leach. In January 1979, Evans appeared as Garrison Southworth in one episode of CBS's Dallas in January 1979. He appeared in ten episodes of CBS's Gunsmoke with James Arness, including "The Snow Train" and "Tatum". In 1965, he guest starred as Jake Burnett in the episode "Vendetta" of ABC's western The Legend of Jesse James starring Christopher Jones. Two years later, he appeared as Deedricks in the episode "Breakout" of another ABC western, Custer, starring Wayne Maunder in the title role. In the late 1980s, Evans appeared on stage as the gruesome Papa in the stage production Papa is All, directed by playwright Tommy F. Scott in Jackson, Tennessee. He retired to a farm in Tennessee following his role in the original film version of Walking Tall. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gene Evans,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Sam Sand

Nevada Smith

William 'Ace' Foster

Armored Car Robbery

Donlan (uncredited)

Criss Cross

Chief Holter

Hell and High Water

Tom Danby

Support Your Local Sheriff!

Clete

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Sheriff Al Thurman

Walking Tall

Deputy Sheriff

Ace in the Hole

Boden

Shock Corridor

Phineas Mitchell

Park Row

Batter Mueller (uncredited)

It Happens Every Spring

Maynard 'Monk' Collins

Crashout

Chief Molumphry

Operation Petticoat

Sheriff Marsh

Lassie: The New Beginning

Deputy Hoag

The War Wagon

Sgt. Major Elmer Pulley

The Sad Sack

Steve Karnes

Behemoth, the Sea Monster

Dr. Frank Schratt

Donovan's Brain

Servo

The Long Wait

Joey

Assigned to Danger

John Butler

The Bravados

Det. Sgt. Fred Janusz

Young and Wild

Gabe

Shootout in a One-Dog Town

Sergeant Zack

The Steel Helmet

Sgt. Rock

Fixed Bayonets!

Lou Gannon

Revolt in the Big House

Papa Doc

Devil Times Five

Ku Klux Klansman (uncredited)

Storm Warning

Cpl. John Boone

I Was an American Spy

Sam

Sidekicks

Dan Harter

Fire!

Captain K.L. Fitzgerald

Casino

Captain Hadi

The Golden Blade

Tom McCord

Cattle Queen of Montana

Shep

Wyoming Mail

Sgt. Smiley 'Mac' McFee

Force of Arms

Sheriff Andrews

The Magic of Lassie

Maj. Al Arthur

Damn Citizen

Sheriff Abner Crowley

Money, Women and Guns

Butch Cassidy / George Leroy Parker

Wyoming Renegades

Whitey Krause

The Helen Morgan Story

Fargo Parker

Once Upon a Texas Train

Jess Cooney

Apache Uprising

Hook

Mutiny

Cole Younger

The Intruders

Sgt. Zack / Phineas Mitchell (archive footage)

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

McCracken

Gold of the Seven Saints

Billings

Sugarfoot

Narrator

Sourdough

Policeman at Ciavelli's Apartment (uncredited)

The Asphalt Jungle

Mr. Horrell

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

Lt. Blocker

Concrete Cowboys

"Big Murph" Murphy

The Hangman

Fred Williker

Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid

Hooker

A Knife for the Ladies

Henchman Red

Under Colorado Skies

Marshal Connelly

The Last Day

Sgt. Maddox

Massacre at Sand Creek

Jim O'Neill

Waco

Sam Brannon

California Gold Rush

Sgt. Mike Braggart

Thunderbirds

Tom Brady

The Bounty Man

Colonel Holiday Hammond, Gunrunner

The Shadow Riders

Sgt. Hanrahan

Matt Helm

Hugh Brown

Dragnet

Col Wolff

There Was a Crooked Man...

Train Sergeant

Berlin Express

Sheriff McVaney

Camper John

McGregor

The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory

Meyer

Travis McGee

Butcher

Support Your Local Gunfighter

Dutton

The Macahans