Will Geer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Will Geer
Born William Aughe Ghere
9 March 1902(1902-03-09)
Frankfort, Indiana, USA
Died April 22, 1978 (aged 76)
Los Angeles, California, USA
Spouse(s) Herta Ware (1934-1954)

Will Geer (9 March 1902 – 22 April 1978) was an American actor. Geer's real name was William Aughe Ghere. He is best known for his portrayal of the character Grandpa Walton, in the popular 1970s TV series The Waltons.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Geer was born in Frankfort, Indiana and was heavily influenced by his grandfather, who taught him the botanical names of the plants in his native Indiana. He started out to become a botanist, studying the subject and obtaining a master's degree from the University of Chicago. While attending, he also became a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

Geer was a social activist, touring government work camps in the 1930s with folk singers like Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie, and participating in the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike.[1] In his biography, fellow organizer and gay rights pioneer Harry Hay details Geer's involvement in these strikes, and their brief relationship while organizing for the strike.[2] Geer is credited with introducing Guthrie to Pete Seeger at the Grapes of Wrath benefit Geer organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers.

He began his acting career touring in tent shows and on river boats. He worked on several left-oriented documentaries, including narrating Sheldon Dick's Men and Dust, about silicosis among miners.

He made his Broadway debut as Pistol in a 1928 production of Much Ado About Nothing, created the role of Mr. Mister in Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, played Slim in John Steinbeck's play, Of Mice and Men, and appeared in numerous plays and revues throughout the 1940s. From 1948 to 1951, he appeared in more than a dozen movies including Winchester '73, Broken Arrow, and Bright Victory.

In the 1950s he was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. During that period, he built the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, California, which he and Herta Ware helped to found. He combined his acting and botanical careers at the Theatricum, by making sure that every plant mentioned in Shakespeare was grown there.

During the mid-50s, he worked sporadically on Broadway and in 1964 received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for 110 in the Shade.

Geer maintained a vacation home, called Geer-Gore Gardens, in Nichols Connecticut. He visited often and attended the local Fourth of July fireworks celebrations sometimes wearing a black tophat or straw hat and always his trademark denim overalls with only one suspender hooked.

When Geer died shortly after completing the Sixth Season of The Waltons, the producers had his character die, as well.

He was married to the actress Herta Ware, best known for her performance as the wife of Jack Gilford in the film Cocoon (1985). Geer and Ware had three children, including actress Ellen Geer. Although they eventually divorced, they remained close. Ware also had a daughter, actress Melora Marshall, by another marriage.

As Will Geer was dying on April 22, 1978, of a respiratory failure at the age of 76, his family sang Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" at his deathbed, and recited poems by Robert Frost. Geer was cremated, and his ashes buried at the Theatricum Botanicum in the "Shakespeare Garden."

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael Bronski, "The real Harry Hay", Boston Phoenix, 31 October 2002 [1]
  2. ^ Stuart Timmons, The Trouble With Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement (1990), page 64 and 67.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series

Dennis Weaver (1959) · Roddy McDowall (1961) · Albert Paulsen (1964) · James Daly (1966) · Eli Wallach (1967) · Milburn Stone (1968) · James Brolin (1970) · David Burns (1971) · Jack Warden (1972) · Scott Jacoby (1973) · Michael Moriarty (1974) · Will Geer (1975)