​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Gene Evans (July 11, 1922 - April 1, 1998) was an American actor. He was born in Holbrook, Arizona, but reared in Colton, California. His acting career began while he was serving in World War II. He performed with a theatrical troupe of GIs in Europe. Evans made his film debut in 1947 and appeared in dozens of movies and television programs. He specialized in playing tough guys like cowboys, sheriffs, convicts and sergeants. Evans appeared in numerous films produced, directed, and written by Samuel Fuller. In his memoirs A Third Face, Fuller described meeting Evans when casting his Korean War film The Steel Helmet in 1950. Fuller threw an M1 Garand rifle at Evans, who caught it and inspected it as a soldier would have done. Evans had been a U.S. Army engineer in the war. Fuller kept Evans and ...