MAX SHOWALTER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Max Showalter was born on June 2nd, 1917 in Caldwell, Kansas. From a young boy he was exposed to entertaining when he would travel along with his mother, a piano player, and watch her perform in the theater.
By the mid 1930's he joined the Pasadena Playhouse and between 1935 and 1938, he appeared in over ninety productions. He then made his Broadway debut, credited as Oscar Hammerstein II in a production title, "Knights of Song".
Other Broadway credits included, "Make Mine Manhattan", "The Grass Harp" and his most memorable stage role in, "Hello Dolly!" a production that he performed in a total of 3000 times.
Now with quite a bit of stage experience on his resume he began to break into the film industry with some of his early roles being on, "Always Leave Them Laughing" (1949) starring Milton Berle, Ruth Roman, Bert Lahr, Alan Hale Sr. and Virginia Mayo, "With a Song in My Heart" (1952) starring Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Thelma Ritter, Robert Wagner, Helen Westcott and Una Merkel, "Vicki" (1953) co-starring Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid, Richard Boone, Carl Betz and Aaron Spelling, and "Niagara" (1953) starring Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, Dennis O'Dea, Lurene Tuttle, Will Wright, Don Wilson and introducing Marilyn Monroe. His early film roles billed him as Casey Adams only later taking on the stage name Max Showalter.
Other film credits he added included, "What Price Glory" (1952) starring James Cagney, Corinne Calvet, Dan Dailey, William Demarest, James Gleason, Robert Wagner, Marisa Pavan and Craig Hill, "Down Three Dark Streets" (1954) starring Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Marisa Pavan and Martha Hyer, "Naked Alibi" (1954) starring Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, Marcia Henderson, Chuck Connors, Don Haggerty, Billy Chapin and Gene Barry, "Indestructible Man" (1956) starring with Lon Chaney Jr. and Marian Carr, "Hellcats of the Navy" (1957) starring Ronald Reagan, Nancy Davis, Arthur Franz, Joe Turkel, Don Keefer, Harry Lauter and Robert Arthur, "It Happened to Jane" (1959) starring Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Mary Wickes, Robert Paige, Jayne Meadows, Harry Morgan, Russ Brown, Dave Crockett, Steve Forrest and Gina Gillespie and Ernie Kovacs, "Elmer Gantry" (1960) starring Burt Lancaster, Shirley Jones, Dean Jagger, Arthur Kennedy, Patti Page, Edward Andrews, John McIntire, Hugh Marlowe, Barbara Luna, Dayton Lummis, Harry Antrim and Jean Simmons, "The Music Man" (1962) starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Paul Ford and Hermione Gingold, "How to Murder Your Wife" (1965) starring Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Terry Thomas, Claire Trevor, Sidney Blackmer, Mary Wickes, Alan Hewitt and Jack Albertson, "Bonnie's Kids" (1973) starring Tiffany Bolling, Alex Rocco and Robin Mattson, "10" (1979) starring alongside starring Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews, Robert Webber, Dee Wallace, Brian Dennehy and Bo Derek and his final film role was in, "Sixteen Candles" (1984) starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, Justin Henry, Paul Dooley, Edward Andrews, John Cusack and Anthony Michael Hall.
Along with film work, he also appeared on a number of television shows such as, "The Twilight Zone', "Lord Love a Duck", "The Doris Day Show", "The Lucy Show", "Surfside 6", "Star Stage", "Crossroads", "The Loretta Young Show", "Gunsmoke", "Code 3", "The Thin Man", "Five Fingers", "Stagecoach West", "Sam Benedict", "Dr. Kildare", "Private Secretary", "Hazel", "Perry Mason", "Richard Diamond, Private Detective", "Mr. and Mrs. North", "Police Story" and "The Love Boat".
After, "Sixteen Candles", Max retired from acting and chose to move to Connecticut. He went on to work as a producer, writer and director at the local theater and also at the Ivoryton Playhouse. He passed away in Middletown, Connecticut at the age of eighty three from cancer on July 30th, 2000.
Filmography
1984 Sixteen Candles
1984 Racing with the Moon
1982-1983 The Love Boat
1981 The Incredible Hulk
1981 A Gun in the House
1980 The Stockard Channing Show
1979 10
1978 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1978 Quincy, M.E.
1977 ABC Weekend Specials
1977 The Bob Newhart Show
1975 Kojak
1975 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
1975 Police Story
1973 Bonnie's Kids
1971 The Anderson Tapes
1970 The Moonshine War
1969 The Doris Day Show
1969 A Talent for Loving
1966 Lord Love a Duck
1965 Bewitched
1958-1965 Perry Mason
1964-1965 The Lucy Show
1965 How to Murder Your Wife
1964 Sex and the Single Girl
1964 Fate Is the Hunter
1964 Mr. and Mrs. North
1963-1964 Hazel
1962-1964 Dr. Kildare
1963 Move Over, Darling
1963 The New Phil Silvers Show
1963 My Six Loves
1963 Sam Benedict
1962 Empire
1962 Smog
1962 The Music Man
1962 Bon Voyage!
1962 Surfside 6
1961 Summer and Smoke
1961 Twilight Zone
1961 Follow the Sun
1961 Claudelle Inglish
1961 Stagecoach West
1961 Return to Peyton Place
1961 The Andy Griffith Show
1960 Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1960 The Real McCoys
1960 Elmer Gantry
1959 Five Fingers
1959 Markham
1959 It Happened to Jane
1959 The David Niven Show
1959 The Thin Man
1959 G.E. True Theater
1958 Voice in the Mirror
1958 The Naked and the Dead
1958 The Female Animal
1957 Gunsmoke
1957 Code 3
1957 The Monster That Challenged the World
1957 Hellcats of the Navy
1957 Designing Woman
1957 Dragoon Wells Massacre
1957 Leave It to Beaver
1957 Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans
1956 The Gale Storm Show: Oh, Susanna!
1956 Bus Stop
1956 Crossroads
1956 Indestructible Man
1956 Never Say Goodbye
1956 Star Stage
1956 Matinee Theatre
1956 Navy Log
1956 The 20th Century-Fox Hour
1955 The Buick-Berle Show
1955 The Return of Jack Slade
1954-1955 The Loretta Young Show
1955 TV Reader's Digest
1955 Private Secretary
1954 Naked Alibi
1954 Down Three Dark Streets
1954 Night People
1953 Vicki
1953 Dangerous Crossing
1953 Destination Gobi
1953 Niagara
1952 Stars and Stripes Forever
1952 My Wife's Best Friend
1952 What Price Glory
1952 With a Song in My Heart
1949 The Swift Show
1949 Always Leave Them Laughing
