Max Gordon Showalter, born June 2, 1917, in Caldwell, Kansas, was a gifted performer whose early years foreshadowed a life in the arts. His mother, Elma, was a music teacher who played piano for silent movies, and her son would accompany her to the local theater, where he developed a lifelong passion for performance. After studying at the Pasadena Playhouse in the late 1930s, Showalter made his Broadway debut in Knights of Song and went on to feature in prominent productions such as This Is the Army, Make Mine Manhattan, and The Grass Harp.
