Actor Chad Everett, best known for his role as Dr. Joe Gannon on the TV series "Medical Center" (CBS, 1969-1976), shared a remarkable love story with his wife, actress Shelby Grant. Theirs was a true Hollywood love story that lasted 45 years, until Shelby's death in 2011. Everett himself passed away in 2012.
Chad Everett as Dr. Joe Gannon in "Medical Center"
How They Met
Chad Everett once described how he first met Shelby Grant, acknowledging that he went to the Riverside 500 with a friend looking to meet women. Everett claimed it was love at first sight upon noticing Grant, who said she felt the same way upon seeing the future TV superstar. After leaving the event, Shelby said she felt strange as if having met Everett before. Days later, Everett told a friend that he met the love of his life. He and Shelby eventually ran into each other during a photoshoot on the beach.
They married in Tucson, Arizona, on May 22, 1966. Everett was on location in Tucson filming the 1967 movie "Return of the Gunfighter" at the time of their wedding.
Chad Everett and Ann-Margret in a scene from the MGM comedy ‘Made In Paris’.
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A Lasting Marriage
The couple had two daughters, Katherine and Shannon. "My sister and I were officiants at two of their renewals,” said daughter Kate Thorp in an interview. “We were fortunate to grow up on a ranch."
Shelby gave up her acting career to raise her family. The couple admitted they always worked hard on their marriage and avoided getting into arguments. In the years before their deaths, Chad Everett, and his wife Shelby Grant shared their secrets to how they managed to stay married for 43 years.
Everett credited his family with being a stabilizing force in his life, stating that even in the worst of times, Grant "never threatened to leave. She would tell me that she was there for me. If not for my family, I would have been in big trouble."
Grant noted his romanticism; he sent her so many flowers during their courtship that "my balcony looked like a burial ground." He also often wrote sentimental poems to Grant throughout their marriage, as well as to his daughters.
Challenges and Triumphs
Shelby stood by her husband through years of alcohol abuse. After "Medical Center" ended, Everett became frustrated when no movie roles were forthcoming and television roles were not working out. A long-time social drinker, he began drinking heavily. He was consuming a quart of vodka a day by the time he quit drinking in 1986. "I was a functional alcoholic." Shelby noted his alcohol-related mood swings and has said, "[F]inally I confronted him. I came into the bedroom with a big pot of coffee one morning and said 'we have a major problem to deal with here.'"
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It was in 1986 when his wife confronted him about his addiction to alcohol, “Finally I said, ‘I am really in trouble.’ I stepped outside, and I looked up and I said, ‘Father, you take it."
A month later, Everett caught sight of himself on a video and did not like what he saw. The next day, he told his daughters, "I am addicted to alcohol, and I am not going away to detox." Asking his two daughters into his bedroom for a talk, Everett explained, “I am addicted to alcohol, and I am not going away to detox." At his lowest point, Everett praised his wife for her infallible support, saying she “never threatened to leave. She would tell me that she was there for me.
Grant even stood by her husband during a legal battle with Sheila Scott, who claimed Everett fathered her son Dale, who was born in 1973. After about two decades and 100 phone messages later-that included death threats against Everett and his wife-Scott plead guilty to harassment.
Truth behind Chad Everett death.
The Later Years
Shelby largely left acting to focus on philanthropy during her later life. In the years that followed, E.R would eventually replace it as the top medical show in the country, but he was in many ways the George Clooney of is time. Naturally, the heartthrob had a slew of female fans, and yet throughout his career, he was not known to be playboy, but instead was known to be a committed to his wife.
The End of an Era
Grant died of a brain aneurysm in Westlake Village, California, on June 25, 2011, at the age of 74. Everett died of lung cancer on July 24, 2012. It’s really sad that Everett and his wife both passed, only one year apart from the other.
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| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Chad and Shelby's Wedding | May 22, 1966 |
| Shelby Grant Death | June 25, 2011 |
| Chad Everett Death | July 24, 2012 |
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