- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMax Gordon Showalter
- Nickname
- Casey Adams
- Height6′ 0½″ (1.84 m)
- Born in Kansas, Max Showalter picked up the "acting bug" as a toddler when mother used to take him to the local theater where she played the piano for silent movies. He acted in 92 shows at the Pasadena Playhouse between 1935 and '38, made his Broadway debut under the aegis of Oscar Hammerstein II in "Knights of Song" and acted for two years in the cast of Irving Berlin's traveling musical "This Is the Army." In addition to his films, TV appearances (over 1000), and stage shows, Showalter was a composer, a songwriter, and pianist. In his later years he lived in an 18th-century farmhouse in the Connecticut town he fell in love with while shooting the movie It Happened to Jane (1959).
- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>
- ParentsIra Edward ShowalterElma Roxanna Dodson
- Played the stage role of Horace Vandergelder in "Hello, Dolly!" more than 3,000 times opposite such luminaries as Carol Channing, Betty Grable, Ginger Rogers, and Betsy Palmer.
- Was cast as Ward Cleaver in the original Leave It to Beaver (1957) pilot. It would be resubmitted later with Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver.
- Also acted under the name "Casey Adams".
- He and Edward Andrews both appeared in Elmer Gantry (1960) in 1960. 24 years later they would appear together again as Molly Ringwald's grandfathers in the John Hughes teen classic, Sixteen Candles (1984).
- Max appears briefly as Harry Guild in With a Song in My Heart (1952) where his vaudeville partner, Don Ross, is played by David Wayne. In the movie, Showalter and Wayne perform a tune entitled "Hoe that Corn," a song written by Showalter.
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