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Maurice Evans as Falstaff.

Maurice Evans (born June 3, 1901 in Dorchester, Dorset, England; died March 12, 1989 in East Sussex, England) was an English actor who became a US citizen in 1941.

He first appeared on the stage in 1926 and joined the Old Vic Company in 1934, playing Hamlet, Richard II and Iago. His first appearance on Broadway was in Romeo and Juliet opposite Katharine Cornell in 1936, but he made his biggest impact in Shakespeare's Richard II, a production whose unexpected success was the surprise of the 1937 theatre season and allowed Evans to play Hamlet (1938), Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I (1939), Macbeth (1941), and Malvolio in Twelfth Night (1942) opposite the Viola of Helen Hayes, all under the direction of Margaret Webster. When World War II arrived, he was in charge of an Army Entertainment Section in the Central Pacific and played his famous "G.I. version" of Hamlet that cut the text of the play to make Prince Hamlet more decisive and appealing to the troops, an interpretation so popular that he took it to Broadway in 1945. He then shifted his attention to the works of Shaw, notably as John Tanner in Man and Superman and as King Magnus in The Apple Cart. He was also a successful Broadway producer of productions in which he did not appear, notably Teahouse of the August Moon.

American television audiences of the 1960s will remember Evans as Samantha's father, Maurice (the character was originally name Victor when he was introduced), on the sitcom Bewitched. He also played "The Puzzler" on Batman. Many younger viewers discovering these programmes in syndication are unaware of Evans' Shakespearean pedigree. His real-life insistense that his first name was pronounced the same as the name "Morris" was ironically at odds with his Bewitched character's contrasting stance that it be pronounced "Maw-REESE".

Evans had great impact onscreen as well, as the evolved orangutan, Dr. Zaius, in the 1968 film, Planet of the Apes and as Rosemary's friend Hutch in the thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Evans died of cancer in England, aged 87.

As of 2006, Evans appeared in more American television productions of Shakespeare than any other actor. For the famous television anthology, Hallmark Hall of Fame, he starred in the first feature-length (i.e., more than an hour) dramatizations of the plays to ever be televised - Hamlet, Macbeth (twice - both times with Judith Anderson as Lady Macbeth and winning Evans an Emmy Award for the latter), Richard II, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest. This last featured an all-star cast that included Lee Remick, Roddy McDowall, and Richard Burton.

In bringing Shakespeare to television, he was a true pioneer, although Evans's performances in Shakespeare are not as highly regarded today as they once were. Evans also brought his Shakespeare productions to Broadway many times.

• Maurice Evans at the Internet Movie Database
• Broadway performances as listed on IBDB
• Find-A-Grave profile for Maurice Evans

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