R.I.P. Harvey Evans, Broadway actor for West Side Story, Hello Dolly!, and more

Harvey Evans, a Broadway fixture who made a mark despite rarely holding starring roles, has died. This comes from the Associated Press (via The Hollywood Reporter), which notes that Evans appeared in the original Broadway runs of West Side Story, Follies, Hello, Dolly! (alongside Carol Channing, Betty Grable, and Eve Arden), and Gypsy. He died a few days ago, on Christmas Eve, though a specific cause of death has not been given. Evans was 80.

A statement from Lawrence Leritz, a Broadway actor and director, said that Evans was “dearly loved by the Broadway community” and was “very kind, embracing, funny, and always had a smile on his face.” The Associated Press obituary references a Playbill interview from years ago in which Evans explained that he spent his “entire childhood” in Cincinnati dreaming of being able to move to New York and be in a Broadway show. He accomplished that for the first time in 1955, working as a dancer in New Girl In Town—starring Gwen Verdon and choreographed by Bob Fosse.

Evans worked with Fosse and Verdon again in Redhead, and was a dancer in the Fosse-choreographed film The Pajama Game. He was also able to translate his work on the original Broadway version of West Side Story into roles in both the 1961 movie (where he played Mouthpiece, one of the Jets) and in Steven Spielberg’s recent remake (where he played a security guard at Gimbels). He also had a cameo as a dancer in Disney’s Enchanted and was one of the chimney sweep dancers in the original Mary Poppins.

Other Broadway credits include Sunset Boulevard, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Our Town, Oklahoma!, and Barnum. Tributes to Evans have been posted on social media this weekend from those who knew him and his work, with Harvey Fierstein noting that Evans “new everyone and was loved by all” and Bebe Neuwirth saying he was “one of the kindest, most delightful, loveliest gentlemen I’ve ever had the blessing to know.”