Gene Evans

Acting

Gene Evans

Born 1922-07-11 · Holbrook, Arizona, USA

​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.

Acting credits

California Gold Rush poster
7.0

Author Bret Harte relates the story of the discovery of gold in California at Sutter's Mill, and how that discovery changed the history of the west forever.

California Gold Rush

1981

The War Wagon poster
6.8

An ex-con seeks revenge on the man who put him in prison by planning a robbery of the latter's stagecoach, which is transporting gold. He enlists the help of a partner, who could be working for his nemesis.

The War Wagon

1967

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid poster
7.2

Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

1973

Walking Tall poster
6.6

Ex-wrestler and Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser walks tall and carries a big stick as he tussles with county-wide corruption and moonshining thugs.

Walking Tall

1973

Ace in the Hole poster
7.8

An arrogant reporter exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career.

Ace in the Hole

1951

The Steel Helmet poster
7.0

A ragtag group of American stragglers battles against superior Communist troops in an abandoned Buddhist temple during the Korean War.

The Steel Helmet

1951

The Asphalt Jungle poster
7.5

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

The Asphalt Jungle

1950

Support Your Local Sheriff! poster
7.0

In the old west, a man becomes a Sheriff just for the pay, figuring he can decamp if things get tough.

Support Your Local Sheriff!

1969

Cattle Queen of Montana poster
5.7

Sierra Nevada Jones must fight a villainous rancher to regain the land that is rightfully hers.

Cattle Queen of Montana

1954

The Ballad of Cable Hogue poster
7.0

Double-crossed and left without water in the desert, Cable Hogue is saved when he finds a spring. It is in just the right spot for a much needed rest stop on the local stagecoach line, and Hogue uses this to his advantage. He builds a house and makes money off the stagecoach passengers. Hildy, a prostitute from the nearest town, moves in with him. Hogue has everything going his way until the advent of the automobile ends the era of the stagecoach.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

1970

Jet Pilot poster
5.5

John Wayne stars as U.S. Air Force aviator Jim Shannon, who's tasked with escorting a Soviet pilot (Janet Leigh) claiming -- at the height of the Cold War -- that she wants to defect. After falling in love with and wedding the fetching flyer, Shannon learns from his superiors that she's a spy on a mission to extract military secrets. To save his new wife from prison and deportation, Shannon devises a risky plan in this 1957 drama.

Jet Pilot

1957

Jet Pilot poster
5.5

John Wayne stars as U.S. Air Force aviator Jim Shannon, who's tasked with escorting a Soviet pilot (Janet Leigh) claiming -- at the height of the Cold War -- that she wants to defect. After falling in love with and wedding the fetching flyer, Shannon learns from his superiors that she's a spy on a mission to extract military secrets. To save his new wife from prison and deportation, Shannon devises a risky plan in this 1957 drama.

Jet Pilot

1957

Nevada Smith poster
6.7

Nevada Smith is the alias of Max Sand, the son of an Indian mother and American father. When they are killed by three men over gold, Nevada sets out to avenge them. The young man is taken in by a gun merchant who shows him how to shoot, on time and correctly.

Nevada Smith

1966

Lassie: The New Beginning poster
5.5

The Stratton kids, Samantha and Chip, and their grandmother, Ada, drive to visit their Uncle Stuart. Grandma collapses and dies in a strange town, leaving the kids and Lassie on their own.

Lassie: The New Beginning

1978

There Was a Crooked Man... poster
6.8

A charming but ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison, where he enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.

There Was a Crooked Man...

1970

Operation Petticoat poster
7.2

A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a damaged sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.

Operation Petticoat

1959

The Bravados poster
6.6

Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.

The Bravados

1958

Dallas poster
6.5

After the Civil War, Confederate soldier Blayde Hollister travels to Dallas to avenge the savage murder of his family. Discovering his enemy is now an esteemed citizen, Hollister plots to expose the outlaw and his syndicate.

Dallas

1950

Criss Cross poster
7.1

An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.

Criss Cross

1949

Storm Warning poster
6.6

A fashion model witnesses the brutal assassination of an investigative journalist by the Ku Klux Klan while traveling to a small town to visit her sister.

Storm Warning

1951

The Shadow Riders poster
6.5

After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.

The Shadow Riders

1982

The Hangman poster
6.5

A marshal nicknamed "The Hangman" because of his track record in hunting down and capturing wanted criminals traces a robbery suspect to a small town. However, the man is known and liked in the town, and the citizens band together to try to help him avoid capture.

The Hangman

1959

Support Your Local Gunfighter poster
6.6

A con artist arrives in a mining town controlled by two competing companies. Both companies think he's a famous gunfighter and try to hire him to drive the other out of town.

Support Your Local Gunfighter

1971

The Magic of Lassie poster
5.6

Lassie is claimed from his family by a "former owner" and then braves a cross country trip to rejoin the ones that love her.

The Magic of Lassie

1978