Rex Everhart

Rex Everhart (June 13, 1920 – March 13, 2000) was an American actor whose career spanned Broadway, film, and television across more than five decades. Born in Watseka, Illinois, to Dr. Arthur McKinley Everhart and Jeanette M. (née Dodson) Everhart, he lost his mother at the age of 15. Everhart attended Western Military Academy beginning in 1935 and graduated in 1938. He went on to study at the University of Missouri, earned a degree in theater from the Pasadena Playhouse, and received both a bachelor's and a master's degree from New York University. He further trained as an actor in Manhattan under Paul Mann, Martin Ritt, and Curt Conway.

Before establishing himself on Broadway, Everhart served as a first lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II from 1942 to 1947. He had begun his theater career in 1939, working in regional and repertory venues including the Phoenix Theater, the Yale Repertory Theater, and seven seasons at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. He also acted and directed at NYU, performed at Sarah Stamms Theatre in Newport, Rhode Island, and appeared at the Margo Jones Theatre in Dallas, as well as in productions at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Everhart made his Broadway debut in 1955 in No Time for Sergeants, launching a stage career that continued through 1987. His Broadway credits included Anything Goes, Pictures in the Hallway, Woman of the Year, Rags, Working, and Chicago, among other productions. His work at the American Shakespeare Festival drew critical notice, with New York Times critic Howard Taubman praising his dual performance in The Comedy of Errors in 1963 and his portrayal of the constable Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing in 1964.

One of the most distinctive chapters of Everhart's Broadway career involved the musical 1776. In 1969, he was the understudy to Howard Da Silva in the role of Benjamin Franklin. When Da Silva suffered a heart attack just before the show's opening, Everhart assumed the role until Da Silva recovered. As a result of Da Silva's illness, Everhart performed Benjamin Franklin on the original Broadway cast recording, a credit Da Silva was only able to reclaim when the production was filmed in 1972. When 1776 was revived on Broadway in 1997, Everhart once again served as the understudy for the same role. His performance in the 1978 musical Working earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Everhart's film work included an appearance in Superman (1978) and the role of Enos the truck driver in the horror film Friday the 13th (1980). His final film performance was providing the voice of Maurice, Belle's father, in Disney's animated musical Beauty and the Beast (1991). Across his screen career he appeared in 16 feature films. His television work began during the era of live broadcasting and encompassed series, plays, films, soap operas, and commercials, including several spots for Snickers and Snickers Munch Peanut Brittle during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In his personal life, Everhart married Jill Reardon on February 11, 1944; the two divorced in 1957 and had no children. He met actress Claire Violet (née Richard) in 1960 while both were appearing in the Broadway musical Tenderloin, and they married on December 21, 1962. The couple had a daughter, Degan, born in 1966. Everhart lived for 37 years in Westport, Connecticut. He died on March 13, 2000, at a hospice in Branford, Connecticut, of lung cancer, at the age of 79.