Maurice Evans was an acclaimed Shakespearean actor and part of the Old Vic theatrical company in London. He performed in numerous productions including Richard II (1934), Hamlet (1938), Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 (1939), and Macbeth (1941).
Evans gained U.S. citizenship in 1941 and enlisted in the US military. He was assigned to the Army Entertainment Section. There he developed production to entertain the troops. One of his commanding officer was later quoted as saying affectionately that Evans was “gay as pink ink”.
To Americans, Evans is probably best known for four roles:
The Puzzler, a villain in the Batman series (1966)
Maurice, Samantha’s father in “Bewitched” (1964–1971)
Hutch, the doomed friend in “Rosemary's Baby” (1968).
Dr Zaius, the orangutan in both “Planet of the Apes” (1968) and its sequel “Beneath…” (1970).
Evans never married. His close friends knew he was gay. In his later years, as Evans’ health declined, his friend and business manager David Barlow would hire young men to strip naked and lie on the bed next to him.
Maurice Evans died in 1989 from congestive heart failure at the age of 87 in a nursing home in East Sussex, England.
