Dallas
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Gene Evans
Veteran character actor Gene Evans guest stars on the CBS-TV series "Dallas" as Garrison Southworth, Miss Ellie's dying brother, in the Season 2 episode "Home Again".
Gene Evans
General Information
Birth Name: Eugene Barton Evans
Born: (1922-07-11)July 11, 1922
Birthplace: Holbrook, Arizona, U.S.
Died: April 1, 1998(1998-04-01) (aged 75)
Deathplace: Jackson, Tennessee, U.S.
Career Information
Occupation: Actor
Years active: 1947-1989
Appeared on/in
(or involved with):
Dallas (first series)
Appeared as: Garrison Southworth
Episodes appeared in
/involved with:
"Home Again" in Season 2

Eugene Barton "Gene" Evans (July 11, 1922 – April 1, 1998) made a guest appearance on the CBS-TV series Dallas as Garrison Southworth, the brother of Miss Ellie Ewing, in the Season 2 episode titled "Home Again". Evans built a solid career on stage and in films before venturing into TV in the early 1950's, where he appeared largely in roles in westerns and war films, as both villans and heroes.

Biography[]

Born in Holbrook, Arizona, Gene was reared in Colton, California. His acting career began while he was serving in the United States Army during 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 films and television programs. He specialized in playing tough guys such as cowboys, sheriffs, convicts, and sergeants.

Acting career[]

Gene 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 (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 World War II. Fuller kept Evans and refused John Wayne for the role.[1] 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.[2] Evans also appeared in Fuller's Fixed Bayonets!,[3] Hell and High Water,[4] Shock Corridor[5] and lost thirty pounds to play the lead in Park Row.[6]

In 1966 Evans appeared on the CBS courtroom drama series Perry Mason as Sheriff "Moose" Dalton in "The Case of the Scarlet Scandal."

In the fall of 1976, Evans starred in the 11-episode CBS adventure series, Spencer's Pilots, along with Christopher Stone, Todd Susman, and Britt Leach.

In January 1979, Evans appeared as Garrison Southworth in one episode of CBS's Dallas. He guest starred in ten episodes of CBS's Gunsmoke with James Arness, including several of the best-remembered segments, including "The Snow Train", "Tatum", and "Thirty a Month and Found". In 1965, Evans guest starred as Jake Burnett in the episode "Vendetta" of ABC's western series, 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.

Later years/Death[]

n 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 Walkig Tall (1973) [7].

Evans died of heart failure. He is buried in Highland Memorial Gardens in Jackson, Tennessee.

References[]

  1. Fuller, Samuel A Third Face My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking. 2002: Alfred A Knopf
  2. Fuller, Samuel A Third Face My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking. 2002: Alfred A Knopf, pp. 258-59
  3. IMDB logo Fixed Bayonets (1951 movie) at the Internet Movie Database
  4. IMDB logo Hell and High Water (1954 movie) at the Internet Movie Database
  5. IMDB logo Schock Corridor (1963 movie) at the Internet Movie Database
  6. http://www.allmovie.com/movie/park-row-v105576
  7. IMDB logo Walking Tall (1973 movie) at the Internet Movie Database

External links[]

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