Rex Everhart

Rex Everhart (June 13, 1920 – March 13, 2000) was an American film and musical theatre actor and singer.
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) and its sequel. 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.[1] Everhart attended Western Military Academy[2] 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 Rittand 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 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 Islandand 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 Mr. 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 commercials. Appearing in 16 feature films, Everhart was most recently the voice of Belle's father, Maurice in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast.
== Personal life ==
Everhart first married Jill Reardon on February 11, 1944. The two divorced in 1957 and had no children. In 1960, he met Claire Violet (née Richard), who was an actress, when they were in the Broadway musical Tenderloin. The two got married on December 21, 1962. The two had a daughter named Degan (born 1966). He lived for 37 years in Westport, Connecticut.
== Death ==
Everhart died of lung cancer on March 13, 2000, at age 79.
== Filmography ==
=== Stage ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
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 	
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1965	Who Killed Teddy Bear?	Rude Customer 	
1973	The Seven-Ups 	Inspector Gilson 	
1978	Matilda 	ASPCA attendant #1 	
1978	Superman 	Desk Sergeant (Superman's 1st Night)	
1980	Friday the 13th 	Enos, The Truck Driver 	
1981	Friday the 13th Part 2	Enos, The Truck Driver 	Uncredited
1987	The Rosary Murders 	Father Skiarski 	
1989	Family Business 	Ray Garvey 	
1991	Beauty and the Beast 	Maurice 	Voice
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1960 	Sunday Showcase 	Officer LeBaron 	2 episodes
1961 	'Way Out 	Fred Tench 	Episode: "The Croaker"
1961 	Armstrong Circle Theatre 	Martin De Vries 	Episode: "Spin a Crooked Record"
1962–1965	The Defenders 	Vince Fargo and Al Randall	2 episodes
1962 	Naked City 	Police Officer 	Episode: "Today the Man Who Kills Ants Is Coming"
1962 	Car 54, Where Are You? 	Door Guard Police Officer 	Episode: "No More Pickpockets"
1963 	The DuPont Show of the Week	Charlie 	Episode: "Windfall"
1965 	For the People 	Pete Farina 	Episode: "To Prosecute All Crimes"
1966 	The Trials of O'Brien 	Coffee Man 	Episode: "The 10-Foot, 6-Inch Pole"
1966 	ABC Stage 67 	Klein 	Episode: "The Love Song of Barney Kempinski"
1968 	Man in a Suitcase 	Packard 	Episode: "The Boston Square"
1974–1975	Feelin' Good 	Mac 	TV series
1976 	Strandad 	John Rados 	Television film
1977 	The Blue Hotel 	Scully 	Television film
1979 	The Baby with Four Fathers 	Paddy O'Brien 	Television film
1980 	Gnomes 	 	Voice, Animated television film
1982 	The Elephant Man 	Snork 	Television film
1983 	Running Out 	Frank 	Television film
1984 	ABC Afterschool Special 	Captain Splasher Wilking 	Episode: "Summer Switch"
1991 	Law and Order 	Fire Inspector 	Episode: "The Torrents of Greed: Part 2"
1992 	Square One Television 	Blinky Isenglass 	Episode: 5.35
1992 	Lincoln 	Additional Voices 	Television film
1993 	Ghostwriter 	Ralph Dugan 	Episode: Over a Barrel: Part 2