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John Myhers

actor (1921-1992)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 2, 2025
Entity authorityQ6250029 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Benjamin Myhers (December 18, 1921 – May 27, 1992) was an American stage and screen actor. His film roles included playing Mr. Bratt in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), Robert Livingston in the 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical 1776, and as the leader of the Roman Senate in Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I (1981).

Early life and education

Myhers was born in Strum, Wisconsin, the son of Ole Myhers (1896–1941) and Mabel (née Borreson) Myhers (1902–1964), who later married Hal DeRoach. Myhers began singing at the age of 12 and won several leading roles in the St. Paul Civic Opera during his student years at McPhail School of Music in St. Paul. He served in the United States Armed Forces in Italy during World War II and stayed in Rome for 11 years after the war. He studied at the American Academy and earned a doctoral degree in literature from the University of Rome.

Career

Theatre

He performed leading roles in Broadway shows such as Kiss Me Kate, The Golden Fleecing and The Good Soup, and most notably played the role of Captain Von Trapp in the First National Touring Company of The Sound of Music in the early 1960s and later.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “John Myhers” as actor (1921-1992). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Myhers and actor.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1921, 1992, 1967, 1972—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1921-12-18. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with John, Myhers and actor providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “John Myhers”, the useful work is to connect “actor (1921-1992)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 2, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6250029. VIAF identifies the subject as 17160841. The Library of Congress control number is nr2002034928. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 1992, 1967 and 1972.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Myhers”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Myhers primary sources, John Myhers archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Myhers”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John Myhers” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.