The CHAD EVERETT Only We Knew
THE VETERAN ACTOR FOUND HIS LIFE’S PURPOSE AS A DEVOTED HUSBAND AND FATHER
“We’ve been soulmates for many lifetimes.” —Chad on his marriage to Shelby
As charming, blue-eyed Dr. Joe Gannon, Chad Everett regularly made TV viewers swoon on Medical
Center from 1969 to 1976. “He could make you feel that you were the most important person in the room,” his daughter Shannon Everett tells Closer.
Despite the bedside manner that launched a thousand crushes, Chad went home every at night to actress Shelby Grant. The pair wed in 1966, raised two daughters and remained married for 45 years. “My sister and I were officiants at two of their renewals,” recalls Kate Thorp of her parents, who faithfully repeated their vows every seven years. “They were deeply in love and truly had respect for each other.”
Working on TV allowed Chad to be an involved father to Kate and Shannon. “We were fortunate to grow up on a ranch,” Kate says. “Whether playing tennis, swimming, horseback riding or just watching a football game together, our family life was always just that — family together!”
GOOD TIMES AND BAD
They also faced challenges together. In 1986, Shelby confronted Chad about his heavy drinking. “If not for my family, I would have been in big trouble,” admitted the actor, who rehabbed at home with the help of AA. “He felt that if he could serve as an example, we’d know that not only is it not a quick fix, but that people can get better,” Kate explains.
Chad continued acting and had roles on episodes of Murder, She Wrote, Melrose Place and in the 2001 feature Mulholland Drive, but the most meaningful part of his life occurred at home. “He always recognized that it’s what is on the inside that counts,” says Kate of Chad, who passed away a year after Shelby in 2012. “He was proudest of his wife, children and grandchildren.”