Everett Dodrill Jr., 84, an Original Member of the Dobama Theatre Company

Everett L. Dodrill Jr. and his wife, Marji, were two of the original cast members of that was founded in Cleveland Heights in 1960.

Dodrill, who died March 1 at age 84, acted in many Dobama plays and worked with the Kids Playwriting Festival until a few years ago.

He also helped put together the Dobama Collection of the Cleveland Memory Project. 

The Cleveland Heights resident also acted and directed in theater productions at such venues as , Cleveland Play House, Karamu, Lakewood Little Theater and Clague Playhouse.

His most recent role was that of Ebenezer Scrooge for the WCJU radio production of A Christmas Carol, which aired on Christmas Eve 2010.

Dodrill also was a cast member for 2004’s Christmas by Cleveland, a two-hour collection of Christmas narratives recorded at the WJCU studio.

He wrote and/or produced programs in the 1970s and ’80s for WVIZ (PBS) and a TV special for WJW (Channel 8) titled The Wandering Muse of Artemus Flagg, starring Burgess Meredith.

In the 1990s, he produced training videos for the American Society for Metals.

In his retirement, Dodrill volunteered at the Cleveland Sight Center, reading books on the radio, and at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, making fossil molds. He also acted as a patient for doctors in training at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Dodrill was born in Morgantown, WV, and grew up in towns near New York City.

He served in the Army after the end of World War II.  Although he was officially a radio mechanic, he also played trumpet in dance bands and put on magic shows to entertain fellow soldiers.

Dodrill later moved to Cleveland, where he worked for a couple of ad agencies and became seriously interested in acting, directing and writing.

He wrote scripts for radio shows, educational stories for Educational Research Council of America and articles for industrial magazines.

Dodrill learned to scuba dive in his late 70s. He took courses in sculpting that were offered by Cleveland State University for people over 60.

He and his wife, popular local actress Marji Dodrill, toured Austria and China on bicycles when they were in their 60s. His wife died in 2004.

Dodrill is survived by daughters, Joyce M. Dodrill Krieger of Cleveland and Janet R. Dodrill of South Euclid; a grandson; a step-grandson; and siblings, Ada Cowan and William Dodrill.

Memorial services will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13, at Brown-Forward Funeral Home, 17022 Chagrin Blvd., Shaker Heights.

Donations may be made to the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, 2345 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, OH, 44118; or to the Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, OH, 44118.