Chad Everett

Chad Everett
Everett (left) with Meredith Baxter in 1975
Born	Raymon Lee Cramton (1937-06-11)June 11, 1937 South Bend, Indiana, U.S.
Died	July 24, 2012(2012-07-24) (aged 75) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Lung cancer
Other names	Chas Everett Chad York
Education	Fordson High School
Alma mater	Wayne State University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–2012
Spouse(s)	Shelby Grant (m. 1966–2011) (her death)
Children	2

Raymon Lee Cramton (June 11, 1937 – July 24, 2012), known professionally as Chad Everett, was an American actor who appeared in more than 40 films and television series. He was well known for his role as Dr. Joe Gannon in the television drama Medical Center which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976.

He was born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1937, to Virdeen Ruth (née Hopper) and Harry Clyde "Ted" Cramton. His father was a racecar driver as well as a racing mechanic and an auto parts salesman. Some confusion existed regarding the year of his birth. According to The Washington Post, "many reference sources list Mr. Everett's date of birth as 1936, but legal records indicate he was born one year later. He routinely gave his age as consistent with a birth date in 1937." His name was later changed to Chad Everett by his agent Henry Willson.

Everett said he did not mind the change because he was tired of explaining his real name, "Raymon-no-D, Cramton-no-P." He was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, where he attended Fordson High School. While there, he played on the football team as a quarterback and began acting in stage plays at age 14. Later, during his junior year at Wayne State University in Detroit, he joined a State Department-sponsored acting troupe that toured India. "I went into acting because I'm easily bored", Everett once said. "Acting seemed to give vent to a lot of different feelings." He graduated from WSU with a degree in drama.

Everett's first notable role came in an episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers 1960-1962 detective series Surfside 6. His first major role came a year later in the film Claudelle Inglish, and subsequently played a deputy in the short-lived 1963 ABC western television series The Dakotas, which featured Jack Elam as a fellow lawman. After appearing in a number of movies and television series in the later 1960s, he got his big break, landing the role of Dr. Joe Gannon on the innovative medical drama, Medical Center, with costar James Daly.