Chad Everett - Early Life

Early Life

Everett was born Raymon Lee Cramton in South Bend, Indiana, to Virdeen Ruth (née Hopper) and Harry Clyde “Ted” Cramton. His father was a racecar driver as well as a racing mechanic and an auto parts salesman. There is some confusion regarding the year of his birth. According to The Washington Post “many reference sources list Mr. Everett’s date of birth as 1936, but legal records indicate he was born one year later. He routinely gave his age as consistent with a birth date in 1937." His name was later changed to Chad Everett by his agent Henry Willson. Everett said he didn’t mind the change because he was tired of explaining his real name, "Raymon-no-D, Cramton-no-P." He was raised in Dearborn, Michigan where he attended Fordson High School. While there he played on the football team as a quarterback and began acting in stage plays at age 14. Later, during his junior year at Wayne State University in Detroit he joined a State Department-sponsored acting troupe that toured India. “I went into acting because I’m easily bored,” Mr. Everett once said. “Acting seemed to give vent to a lot of different feelings.” He graduated from WSU with a degree in drama.