Everything about Will Geer totally explained
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.
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. 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. 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."
Filmography
Further Information
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