Max Showalter
| Max Showalter | |
|---|---|
Max Showalter (as Casey Adams) portraying Ward Cleaver in the pilot, "It's a Small World" from Leave It to Beaver (April 1957)
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| Born |
June 2, 1917 Caldwell, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | July 30, 2000 (aged 83) Middletown, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Caldwell City Cemetery, Kansas, U.S. |
| Other names | Casey Adams |
| Occupation | Actor, composer, pianist, singer |
| Years active | 1935–84 |
Max Showalter (June 2, 1917 – July 30, 2000) was an American film, television, and stage actor, as well as a composer, pianist, and singer. One of Showalter's most memorable roles was as Jean Peters' character's husband in the 1953 film Niagara. Showalter is also credited as Casey Adams.
Showalter was born in Caldwell, Kansas, the son of Elma Roxanna (Dodson) Showalter (1889-1953), a music teacher, and Ira Edward Showalter (1887-1953), who worked in the oil industry and was also a banker and farmer. He developed a desire for acting as a toddler while accompanying his mother to local theatres where she played piano for silent movies. By the late 1930s, he had multiple stage roles under his belt, and soon made his Broadway debut in Knights of Song. Showalter also appeared in the traveling musical This Is the Army for two years and in other notable Broadway productions like Make Mine Manhattan and The Grass Harp. His most memorable stage role was as Horace Vandergelder in the Broadway hit show, Hello Dolly!. Showalter performed the role more than 3,000 times opposite Carol Channing, Betty Grable and Ethel Merman.
In the late 1940s, Showalter was signed to 20th Century Fox as a featured contract player. His name was changed by Fox's founder, Darryl F. Zanuck to the more "bankable" Casey Adams. He made his feature film debut in Always Leave Them Laughing (1949). He first appeared on live television in the short-lived musical variety series The Swift Show (1948–49), also known as the The Lanny Ross Show.
Showalter's second feature film was the biopic With a Song in My Heart (1952), where he had a small role as a vaudeville performer. In the film, Showalter, along with David Wayne, sang the song "Hoe that Corn", which he also wrote. He appeared in Niagara (1953) alongside Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten. He made a cameo as a Life magazine photographer in another Monroe movie, Bus Stop, in 1956.
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