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{{Short description|American actor (1902–1978)}}
{{Infobox actor
{{Use American English|date=May 2021}}
| bgcolour = silver
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
| name = Will Geer
{{Infobox person
| image = tvg82176.jpg
| name = Will Geer
| caption = Will Geer (center) with ''Waltons'' costars ] and ] ('']'', ], ])
| birthname = William Auge Ghere | image = The Waltons 1974.JPG
| caption = Geer (with ]) as Grandpa "Zeb" Walton in '']''
| birthdate = {{birth date|1902|3|9|mf=y}}<br>{{USA}}
| location = ] | birthname = William Aughe Ghere
| deathdate = {{death date and age|1978|4|22|1902|3|9}} | birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1902|3|9}}
| deathplace = ]<br>{{USA}} | birth_place = ], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1978|4|22|1902|3|9}}
| spouse = ] (1934-1954)
| death_place = ]
| notable role = "Grandpa" Walton in '']''
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|musician|social activist}}
| emmyawards = ''']''' <br> 1975 '']''
| yearsactive = 1927–1978
| spouse = {{marriage|]|1934|1954|reason=divorced}}
| children = 3, including ]
| partner = ] (1932-1934)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kathleen Kennedy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3sWFu3IchEMC&q=Harry+Hay+recounted+being+drawn+into+the+Communist+Party+through+his+then+lover%2C+gay+communist+organizer+and+actor+Will+Geer. |title=Sexual Borderlands: Constructing an American Sexual Past |last2=Sharon Rena Ullman |publisher=Ohio State University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8142-0927-1 |pages=289–90}}</ref>
| relatives = ] (granddaughter)
}} }}
'''Will Geer''' (born '''William Aughe Ghere'''; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist who was active in labor organizing and communist movements in New York City and ] in the 1930s and 1940s.<ref> http://www.democracyandsocialism.com/FameSocialism/Will_Geer.html </ref><ref> https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/will-geer/ </ref> In California, he befriended rising singer ]. They both lived in New York City for a time in the 1940s. He was ] in the 1950s by ] after refusing, in testimony before Congress, to name persons who had joined the ].


'''Will Geer''' (born ] ] in ] &ndash; died ] ] in ]) was an ] ]. Geer's real name was '''William Auge Ghere'''. He is best known for his portrayal of the character Grandpa Walton, in the popular ] ] '']''. In his later years, Geer was best known for his role as Grandpa Zebulon "Zeb" Walton in the TV series '']'' from 1972 until his death in 1978.


==Early life==
Geer was heavily influenced by his grandfather, who taught him the botanical names of the plants in his native ]. He started out to become a ], studying the subject and obtaining a ] from the ]. But he eventually succumbed to the allure of acting.
Geer was born in ], the son of Katherine (née Aughe), a teacher, and Roy Aaron Ghere, a postal worker.<ref>American National Biography: Fishberg-Gihon, John Arthur Garraty, Mark Christopher Carnes, American Council of Learned Societies, Oxford University Press, 1999 </ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/l/c/Christine-Alcorn/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0334.html|title=Christine-Alcorn - User Trees |work=genealogy.com}}</ref> His father left the family when he was 11 years old. Will was deeply influenced by his grandfather<!-- which one? -->, who taught him the botanical names of the plants in Indiana, his native state. Will began to be a ]; he received a master's degree in botany at the ]. He was also a member of the ] fraternity.


==Career==
He began his career touring in tent shows and on river boats. He eventually made his way to ], and in ] received a nomination for the ] for ] for '']''.
] production of '']''.]]
] his name, Will Geer began his acting career touring in ]s and on ]. He worked on several social commentaries for documentaries, including narrating ]'s ''Men and Dust'' about ] among miners.


He created the role of Mr. Mister in ]'s 1937 '']'', played Candy in ]'s theatrical adaptation of his novella '']'' and appeared in numerous plays and revues throughout the 1940s. From 1948 to 1951, he appeared in more than a dozen movies, including '']'' (as ]), '']'', and ''],'' all in 1950; as well as '']'' (1951). He became a dedicated activist touring government work camps of the ] in the 1930s with ]s such as ] and ] (whom he introduced to the ''People's World'' and the '']'').<ref name="Bronski">Michael Bronski , ''Boston Phoenix'', October 31, 2002</ref><ref name="Denning" /> In 1956, Guthrie and Geer released an album together on ], titled ''Bound for Glory: Songs and Stories of Woody Guthrie.'' In his biography, ] described Geer's activism and their activities while organizing for the strike.<ref name="timmons">Stuart Timmons, ''The Trouble With Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement'' (1990)</ref>{{rp|64, 67}} Geer introduced Guthrie to ] at the 'Grapes of Wrath' benefit, which he organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers.
He was married to the actress ], best known for her poignant performance as the wife of ] in ]. Geer and Ware had 3 children, including actress ]. Although they eventually divorced they remained close. Ware also had a daughter, actress ], by another marriage.


Geer acted with the ] studying under ], ], and ]. Geer acted in radio appearing as ] (]) in the 1938 and 1944 productions of ]'s '']''.<ref name="Tangent">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tangentonline.com/old-time-radio/1184-the-plot-to-overthrow-christmas-norman-corwin/ |title="The Plot to Overthrow Christmas: Norman Corwin", ''Tangent'' online |access-date=July 1, 2013 |archive-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921010720/http://www.tangentonline.com/old-time-radio/1184-the-plot-to-overthrow-christmas-norman-corwin |url-status=dead }}</ref> Geer also acted in the radio soap opera '']''.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22Bright+Horizon,+soap+opera%22&pg=PA119 |last=Dunning| first=John| author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) | title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio| date=1998| publisher=Oxford University Press| location=New York, NY| isbn=978-0-19-507678-3| page=119 | edition=Revised| access-date=September 17, 2019}}</ref>
Geer was also a ], touring government work camps in the 1930s with ]s like ] and ]. In fact, he is credited with introducing Guthrie to ] at the Grapes of Wrath benefit Geer organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers. He worked on several left-oriented documentaries, including narrating ]'s ''Men and Dust'', about ] among miners. In the ] he was ]ed for refusing to testify before the ]. During that period, he built the Will Geer ] in ], ], 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 ] was grown there.


===Blacklist===
Geer was a card carrying member of the Communist Party of Los Angeles and was one time homosexual lover and close friend of Harry Hay, Communist Party member and founder of the Mattachine Society. The nations first men's homosexual "rights" group. A group founded by Harry Hay and an Austrian "refugee" ] (also one of Hay's lovers) who went on to play the role of Catwoman's hairdresser in a few episodes of the Batman TV series starring Adam West. The Mattachine Society, Inc. was organized into a cell structure in much the same fashion as the Communist Party of the 1940's-1970's. It is suspected but not known if Gere was a member of the Mattachine Society.
Geer was a Communist Party member since the 1930s and made “repeated appearances at fundraisers for the American Communist Party” over the years.<ref>https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/will-geer/</ref> Because of this, Geer was blacklisted in the early 1950s for refusing to testify before the ].<ref>{{cite web |title=H. Rept. 82-2516 - Annual report of the Committee on Un-American Activities for the year 1952. December 28, 1952. (Original release date.) January 3, 1953. -- Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-11578_00_00-227-2516-0000 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=June 29, 2023 |page=45 |date=December 28, 1952 |quote=Appeared Apr. 11, 1951, and refused to affirm or deny membership in Communist Party.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=H. Rept. 82-378 - Report on the Communist "peace" offensive. A campaign to disarm and defeat the United States. April 25, 1951. -- Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-11501_00_00-002-0378-0000 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=June 29, 2023 |pages=105, 108, 109 |date=April 25, 1951}}</ref> As a result, he appeared in very few films over the next decade. Among those was '']'' (1954). He starred in it; it was produced, directed, and written by blacklisted Hollywood personnel. It told the story of a miners' strike in ] from a pro-union standpoint. The film was denounced as "subversive", consequently it faced difficulties during production and in distribution.


===Later years===
Per Harry Hay (PBS documentary - Hope along the Wind) the two helped to organize labor strikes and perhaps some of the "Zoot suit" riots in Los Angeles (1943) The Zoot suit riots, Harry Hay, and Will Geere might be connected through a Long Beach attorney, George E. Shibley (1910-1989) a New York born son of Syrian immigrants, and attorney and activist (Calif. bar #14807 Long Beach, admitted May 1935 who also represented one of the Mattachine Society communists on solicitation for sodomy charges during the same time frame.
In 1951, Geer founded the Will Geer ] in ], with his wife, actress ]. He combined his acting and botanical careers at the Theatricum, cultivating every plant mentioned in ]'s plays. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he played several seasons at the ] in ]. He created a second Shakespeare Garden on the theater's grounds. By that time, he was working sporadically again on ]. In 1964, he was nominated for the ] for ] for '']''. In 1967, he performed a soliloquy as the prosecutor delivering the closing argument against the two murderers in the film '']''. In 1972, he played the part of Bear Claw in '']''.


In 1972, he was cast as Zebulon Walton, the family patriarch on ''The Waltons,'' a role he took over from ]. Bergen played the character in the TV movie upon which the series was based. He won an ] for ''The Waltons'' in 1975.
During WWII and during the period immediately following WWII. Hay and Geere had been an active members of the Communist Party USA. "In 1934, Hay and his lover Will Geere, who later played Grandpa on the long-running television series The Waltons, helped pull off an 83-day-long workers’ strike of the port of San Francisco. Though marred by violence, it was an organizing triumph, one that became a model for future union strikes" ]
When Geer died shortly after completing the sixth season of ''The Waltons'', the death of his character was written into the show's script. His final episode, the last episode of the 1977–1978 season, showed him reuniting with his onscreen wife Esther (played by ]; she had been absent for the entire season due to a stroke). His character was mourned onscreen during the first episode of the 1978–1979 season, titled "The Empty Nest".


==Personal life==
Both Geere and Hay were subpoened and appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings in Los Angeles during the 1950's but Hays Communist Party membership was not uncovered or publicly acknowledged until much later. Geere was (rightfully?) blacklisted as there was in fact Communist party activity in the Film industry in which Geere played an active role. For example the popular wartime propagnada film "Sahara" (1943) starring Humphrey Bogart, had its screenplay, based on an incident in the Soviet Photoplay "The Thirteen" and was produced by Zoltán Korda (d. Hollywood, Ca 1961) a Hungarian native who was briefly imprisoned and exiled for his communist activities after the Hungarian communist government was overthrown by the fascists in 1919.
Geer married actress Herta Ware in 1934; they had three children, Kate Geer, Thad Geer, and actress ]. Ware also had a daughter, Melora Marshall, who was an actress, from another marriage. Although he and Ware divorced in 1954, they remained close for the rest of their lives.


In 1932, Geer met Harry Hay at the Tony Pastor Theatre where Geer was working as an actor. They soon became lovers.<ref>Kevin Starr, ''Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance 1950–1963'', Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 469</ref> Geer and Hay participated in a milk strike in Los Angeles. Later in the year, they performed in support of the ], where they witnessed police firing on strikers and killing two.<ref>Hay, Harry; Roscoe, William. ''Radically Gay : Gay Liberation in the Words of Its Founder'', Beacon Press, 1996, p. 356</ref><ref name=timmons/>{{page needed|date=January 2024}} Geer was a committed communist; Hay later described him as his political mentor.<ref name=timmons/>{{rp|64–65}}<ref name="levy">{{Cite news |last=Levy |first=Dan |url=http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Ever-the-Warrior-Gay-rights-icon-Harry-Hay-has-3240144.php |title=Ever the Warrior: Gay rights icon Harry Hay has no patience for assimilation |date=June 23, 2000 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618234952/http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Ever-the-Warrior-Gay-rights-icon-Harry-Hay-has-3240144.php |archive-date=June 18, 2013 |page=DD–8}}</ref><ref>John Gallagher, "Harry Hay's Legacy" (obituary) ''The Advocate'', November 26, 2002; pp. 15; No. 877; ISSN 0001-8996</ref> Geer introduced Hay to Los Angeles' communist community and together they were activists, joining demonstrations for laborers' rights and the unemployed. Once, they handcuffed themselves to lampposts outside ] and handed out leaflets for the ].<ref name=timmons/>{{rp|64–65}} Geer became a member of the Communist Party of the United States in 1934. After Hay was increasingly political, Geer introduced him to the party.<ref name=timmons/>{{rp|67, 69}}<ref>D'Emilio, p. 59</ref> Geer became a reader of the ''],'' a West Coast Communist newspaper.<ref name="Denning">Denning, Michael, ''The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century,'' Verso (1998), {{ISBN|1-85984-170-8}}, {{ISBN|978-1-85984-170-9}}, p. 14</ref>
As Will Geer was dying on ], ], of a ] at the age of 76, his family sang Guthrie's '']'' at his deathbed, and recited poems by ]. Geer was ], and his ashes buried at the Theatricum Botanicum in the "Shakespeare Garden."


He maintained a garden at his vacation house, called Geer-Gore Gardens, in ]. He was often there and attended the local ] fireworks celebrations, sometimes wearing a black top hat or straw hat and always his trademark denim overalls with only one suspender hooked.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/columns/296-columnsreflections/52486-an-interview-with-will-geer-from-the-waltons.html |title=An interview with Will Geer from 'The Waltons' |access-date=February 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607170510/http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/columns/296-columnsreflections/52486-an-interview-with-will-geer-from-the-waltons.html |archive-date=June 7, 2011 }}</ref> He had a small vacation house in ], where his front and back yards were cultivated as vegetable gardens rather than lawns.
==Filmography==
===1930s===


==Death==
*'']'' (1932)
Geer died of ] at the age of 76 on April 22, 1978 in ]. As he was dying, his family sang folk songs that he and Woody Guthrie had written, and recited poems by ] at his bedside.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gupte |first=Pranay |date=1978-04-24 |title=Will Geer Dies at 76 After Career As Character Actor for Six Decades |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/24/archives/will-geer-dies-at-76-after-career-as-character-actor-for-six.html |access-date=2024-08-18 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His remains were cremated and his ashes are buried at the Theatricum Botanicum in the Shakespeare Garden in ], California.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 17144). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>
*'']'' (1934)
*'']'' (1934)
*'']'' (1935)
*'']'' (1939)


==TV and filmography==
===1940s===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* '']'' (1932) as McMahon&nbsp;– Asylum Guard
* '']'' (1934) as West Fry
* '']'' (1934) as Poker Player (uncredited)
* '']'' (1935) as Village Lamplighter (uncredited)
* '']'' (1939) as Foreman (uncredited)
* '']'' (1940) as 2nd Teacher
* '']'' (1948) as Nick Driver
* '']'' (1948) as Sam Hobbs
* '']'' (1949) as Schultzy
* '']'' (1949) as Deputy Ray Covin
* '']'' (1949) as Noah
* '']'' (1949) as Sheriff Hampton
* '']'' (1950) as O'Fallon
* '']'' (1950) as Dan'l Seeger
* '']'' (1950) as Wyatt Earp
* '']'' (1950) as William Musk&nbsp;– Father
* '']'' (1950) as Ben Slade
* '']'' (1950) as Convict Mapes
* '']'' (1950) as Jack Mackay
* '']'' (1951) as Tom Botts
* '']'' (1951) as Mr. Lawrence Nevins
* '']'' (1951) as Homer Crowley&nbsp;– Train Conductor
* '']'' (1951) as Harry Robinson
* '']'' (1951) as Dan Paget&nbsp;– Miami Mayor / Postmaster
* '']'' (1954) as Sheriff
* '']'' (1956)
* '']'' (1956) as Harry Robinson (archive footage)
* '']'' (1962) as Senate Minority Leader
* '']'' (1964) as Brian Lincoln
* '']'' (1964) as Truckdriver
* '']'' (1966) as Judge Lindemann / Sheldon
* '']'' (1966) as Old Man
* ''The Crucible'' (1967) as Giles
* '']'' (1967) as Laski
* '']'' (1967) as Prosecutor
* '']'' (1967) as Dr. Lee-Evans
* '']'' (1968) as Uncle Harry
* '']'' (1968) as Judge David P. Andrews
* '']'' (1968) as Candy
* '']'' (1968) as Doc
* '']'' (1968) as Hank Willis
* '']'' (1968) as Pop Chaney
* '']'' (1968) as Slocum
* '']'' (1968) as Malcolm Stoddard
* '']'' (1969) as Captain Wolford
* '']'' (1969) as Benjamin Pruitt
* '']'' (1969–1971) as Ferris Callahan / Zach Randolph / Calvin Butler
* '']'' (1969) as Professor Harold Lochner
* '']'' (1969) as Oliver Hidemann
* '']'' (1969) as Adam
* '']'' (1969) as Boss McCaslin
* '']'' (1970) (Grandpa Tawes voice dub)
* '']'' (1970) as Mac
* '']'' (1970) as Mr. Baylor
* '']'' (1970) as Mike Patterson
* '']'' (1970) as The Bishop
* '']'' (1970–1971) as Elliot Leveridge / Judge Scanlon / Ralph Turner
* '']'' (1970) as Mr. Kane
* '']'' (1970–1974) as Coughlin
* ''Shooting the Moonshine War'' (1970) as Himself (uncredited)
* '']'' (1970–1971) as Elliot Leveridge / Judge Scanlon / Ralph Turner
* ''Sam Hill: Who Killed Mr. Foster?'' (1971) as Simon Anderson
* '']'' (1971) as Desk Clerk (segment "Love and the Pulitzer Prize")
* '']'' (1971) as Doc Thomas
* '']'' (1971) as Hurley Gaines
* '']'' (1971) as Seth
* '']'' (1971) as Singlefoot
* '']'' (1971) as Uncle Everett
* '']'' (TV series) (1972–1978) as Zebulon Tyler Walton
* '']'' (1972) as Roy Jurroe
* '']'' (1972) as Justice Gilead Merton
* '']'' (1972) as President George Washington
* '']'' (1972) as Rev. Jordan
* '']'' (1972) as Bear Claw
* '']'' (1972) as Stan
* '']'' (1972) as Grandpa
* '']'' (1973) as Walt Peckinpah
* '']'' (1973) as Dr. Edmund Hidemann
* ''Brock's Last Case'' (1973) as J. Smiley Krenshaw
* '']'' (1973) as Len McNeil
* '']'' (1973) as Joel Ryker
* ''The Gift of Terror'' (Made for TV Film) (1973) as Ben
* '']'' (1973) as Judge Emmitt Marcus
* '']'' (1973) as Lemuel Lovell
* '']'' (1973) as Paul Bartlett
* '']'' (1973) as Harold Ferguson
* '']'' (1974) as Nameless
* ''Silence'' (1974) as Crazy Jack
* ''Honky Tonk'' (1974) as Judge Cotton
* ''Memory of Us'' (1974) as Motel Manager
* '']'' (1974) as Dr. McCutcheon
* '']'' (1975) as Dr. Simpson
* '']'' (1975) as Reverend Davis
* '']'' (1976) as Grandfather
* ''Law and Order'' (1976) as Pat Crowley
* '']'' (1976) as Rockfield
* '']'' (1976) as Himself
* '']'' (1976) as Commodore Atwater
* '']'' (1976) as Himself
* '']'' (1977) as Choo-Choo Trayne
* '']'' (1977) as Sam
* '']'' (1977) as Franklyn Bootherstone
* '']'' (1978) as Thomas Garrett
* ''Unknown Powers'' (1978) as Host
* ''CBS: On the Air'' (1978)
* '']'' (1978) as Zom
{{div col end}}


==Discography==
*'']'' (1940)
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*'']'' (1948)
* ''Folkways: The Original Vision'' (2005) ]
*'']'' (1948)
* ''Ecology Won: Readings by Will Geer and Ellen Geer'' (1978) ]
*'']'' (1949)
* ''Woody's Story: As Told by Will Geer and Sung by Dick Wingfield'' (1976) Folkways Records
*'']'' (1949)
* ''American History in Ballad and Song, Vol.2'' (1962) Folkways Records
*'']'' (1949)
* ''Mark Twain: Readings from the Stories and from "Huckleberry Finn"'' (1961) Folkways Records
*'']'' (1949)
* ''Hootenanny at Carnegie Hall'' (1960) Folkways Records
* ''Bound for Glory: Songs and Stories of Woody Guthrie'' (1956) Folkways Records
{{div col end}}


===1950s=== == References ==
{{reflist}}


== External links ==
*'']'' (1950)
{{commons category|Will Geer}}
*'']'' (1950)
* {{IMDb name}}
*'']'' (1950)
* {{IBDB name}}
*'']'' (1950)
* {{iobdb name}}
*'']'' (1950)
* {{Find a Grave}}
*'']'' (1950)
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609062450/http://www.folkways.si.edu/searchresults.aspx?sPhrase=will%20geer&sType=%27phrase%27 |date=June 9, 2009 }} of Will Geer on Folkways
*'']'' (1950)
*'']'' (1951)
*'']'' (1951)
*'']'' (1951)
*'']'' (1951)
*'']'' (1951)
*'']'' (1954)
*'']'' (1956)


{{EmmyAward DramaSupportingActor 1950-1975}}
===1960s===
{{The Waltons}}

{{Authority control}}
*'']'' (1962)
*'']'' (1964)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1964)
*'']'' (1966)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance)(1966)
*'']'' (1967)
*'']'' (1967)
*'']'' (Made-for-TV Film) (1967)
*'']'' (TV-series guest appearance) (1967)
*'']'' (1968)
*'']'' (1968)
*'']'' (TV-series guest appearance)(1968)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1968)
*'']'' (TV-series guest appearance) (1968)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1968)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1968)
*'']'' (1969)
*'']'' (guest appearance) (1969)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1969)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1969)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1969)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1969)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1969)

===1970s===

*'']'' (1970)
*'']'' (1970)
*'']'' (1970)
*'']'' (Made-for-TV film) (1970)
*'']'' (Made-For-TV film) (1970)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1970)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1970)
*'']'' (1970)
*'']'' (guest appearance) (1970)
*'']'' (1971)
*'']'' (Made-For-TV film) (1971)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1971)
*'']'' ((TV series guest appearance) 1971)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1971)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1971)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1971)
*'']'' (TV series) (1972 to 1978)
*'']'' (1972)
*'']'' (1972)
*'']'' (1972)
*'']'' (1972)
*'']'' (made-for-TV film) (1972)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1972)
*'']'' (1973)
*'']'' (Made-for-TV film) (1973)
*'']'' ((Made for TV Film) (1973)
*'']'' (1973)
*'']'' (TV Series guest appearance) (1973)
*'']'' (Made-for-TV film) (1973)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1973)
*'']'' (1973)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1973)
*'']'' (1973)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1973)
*'']'' (1974)
*'']'' (1974)
*'']'' (1974)
*'']'' (1974)
*'']'' (1974)
*'']'' (Made-for-TV film) (1975)
*'']'' (1975)
*'']'' (1975)
*'']'' (1976)
*'']'' (1976)
*'']'' (1976)
*'']'' (1976)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1976)
*'']'' (1977)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1977)
*'']'' (TV series guest appearance) (1977)
*'']'' (Made-for-TV film) (1978)
*'']'' (1978)
*'']'' (1978)
*'']'' (1979)

==Trivia==
In the ] dubbed version of ''The Waltons'', the first name of Geer's character, Zeb Walton, was altered to Samuel "Sam" Walton because "Zeb" sounded too similar to "Sepp", a ]n short form of the name "Joseph", which was considered a cliché for an older man. The real ] was the founder of ].

==External link==
*{{imdb name|id=0002095|name=Will Geer}}


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Latest revision as of 06:42, 2 January 2025

American actor (1902–1978)

Will Geer
Geer (with Ellen Corby) as Grandpa "Zeb" Walton in The Waltons
BornWilliam Aughe Ghere
(1902-03-09)March 9, 1902
Frankfort, Indiana, U.S.
DiedApril 22, 1978(1978-04-22) (aged 76)
Los Angeles, California
Occupations
  • Actor
  • musician
  • social activist
Years active1927–1978
Spouse Herta Ware ​ ​(m. 1934; div. 1954)​
PartnerHarry Hay (1932-1934)
Children3, including Ellen Geer
RelativesWillow Geer (granddaughter)

Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist who was active in labor organizing and communist movements in New York City and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In California, he befriended rising singer Woody Guthrie. They both lived in New York City for a time in the 1940s. He was blacklisted in the 1950s by Hollywood after refusing, in testimony before Congress, to name persons who had joined the Communist Party USA.

In his later years, Geer was best known for his role as Grandpa Zebulon "Zeb" Walton in the TV series The Waltons from 1972 until his death in 1978.

Early life

Geer was born in Frankfort, Indiana, the son of Katherine (née Aughe), a teacher, and Roy Aaron Ghere, a postal worker. His father left the family when he was 11 years old. Will was deeply influenced by his grandfather, who taught him the botanical names of the plants in Indiana, his native state. Will began to be a botanist; he received a master's degree in botany at the University of Chicago. He was also a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

Career

Geer created the role of Mr. Mister in the 1937 Federal Theatre Project production of The Cradle Will Rock.

Anglicizing his name, Will Geer began his acting career touring in tent shows and on riverboats. He worked on several social commentaries for documentaries, including narrating Sheldon Dick's Men and Dust about silicosis among miners.

He created the role of Mr. Mister in Marc Blitzstein's 1937 The Cradle Will Rock, played Candy in John Steinbeck's theatrical adaptation of his novella 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 (as Wyatt Earp), Broken Arrow, and Comanche Territory, all in 1950; as well as Bright Victory (1951). He became a dedicated activist touring government work camps of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s with folk singers such as Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie (whom he introduced to the People's World and the Daily Worker). In 1956, Guthrie and Geer released an album together on Folkways Records, titled Bound for Glory: Songs and Stories of Woody Guthrie. In his biography, Harry Hay described Geer's activism and their activities while organizing for the strike. Geer introduced Guthrie to Pete Seeger at the 'Grapes of Wrath' benefit, which he organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers.

Geer acted with the Group Theatre (New York) studying under Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg. Geer acted in radio appearing as Mephistopheles (the devil) in the 1938 and 1944 productions of Norman Corwin's The Plot to Overthrow Christmas. Geer also acted in the radio soap opera Bright Horizon.

Blacklist

Geer was a Communist Party member since the 1930s and made “repeated appearances at fundraisers for the American Communist Party” over the years. Because of this, Geer was blacklisted in the early 1950s for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. As a result, he appeared in very few films over the next decade. Among those was Salt of the Earth (1954). He starred in it; it was produced, directed, and written by blacklisted Hollywood personnel. It told the story of a miners' strike in New Mexico from a pro-union standpoint. The film was denounced as "subversive", consequently it faced difficulties during production and in distribution.

Later years

In 1951, Geer founded the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, California, with his wife, actress Herta Ware. He combined his acting and botanical careers at the Theatricum, cultivating every plant mentioned in Shakespeare's plays. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he played several seasons at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. He created a second Shakespeare Garden on the theater's grounds. By that time, he was working sporadically again on Broadway. In 1964, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for 110 in the Shade. In 1967, he performed a soliloquy as the prosecutor delivering the closing argument against the two murderers in the film In Cold Blood. In 1972, he played the part of Bear Claw in Jeremiah Johnson.

In 1972, he was cast as Zebulon Walton, the family patriarch on The Waltons, a role he took over from Edgar Bergen. Bergen played the character in the TV movie upon which the series was based. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for The Waltons in 1975. When Geer died shortly after completing the sixth season of The Waltons, the death of his character was written into the show's script. His final episode, the last episode of the 1977–1978 season, showed him reuniting with his onscreen wife Esther (played by Ellen Corby; she had been absent for the entire season due to a stroke). His character was mourned onscreen during the first episode of the 1978–1979 season, titled "The Empty Nest".

Personal life

Geer married actress Herta Ware in 1934; they had three children, Kate Geer, Thad Geer, and actress Ellen Geer. Ware also had a daughter, Melora Marshall, who was an actress, from another marriage. Although he and Ware divorced in 1954, they remained close for the rest of their lives.

In 1932, Geer met Harry Hay at the Tony Pastor Theatre where Geer was working as an actor. They soon became lovers. Geer and Hay participated in a milk strike in Los Angeles. Later in the year, they performed in support of the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike, where they witnessed police firing on strikers and killing two. Geer was a committed communist; Hay later described him as his political mentor. Geer introduced Hay to Los Angeles' communist community and together they were activists, joining demonstrations for laborers' rights and the unemployed. Once, they handcuffed themselves to lampposts outside UCLA and handed out leaflets for the American League Against War and Fascism. Geer became a member of the Communist Party of the United States in 1934. After Hay was increasingly political, Geer introduced him to the party. Geer became a reader of the People's World, a West Coast Communist newspaper.

He maintained a garden at his vacation house, called Geer-Gore Gardens, in Nichols, Connecticut. He was often there and attended the local Fourth of July fireworks celebrations, sometimes wearing a black top hat or straw hat and always his trademark denim overalls with only one suspender hooked. He had a small vacation house in Solana Beach, California, where his front and back yards were cultivated as vegetable gardens rather than lawns.

Death

Geer died of respiratory failure at the age of 76 on April 22, 1978 in Los Angeles. As he was dying, his family sang folk songs that he and Woody Guthrie had written, and recited poems by Robert Frost at his bedside. His remains were cremated and his ashes are buried at the Theatricum Botanicum in the Shakespeare Garden in Topanga Canyon, California.

TV and filmography

Discography

  • Folkways: The Original Vision (2005) Smithsonian Folkways
  • Ecology Won: Readings by Will Geer and Ellen Geer (1978) Folkways Records
  • Woody's Story: As Told by Will Geer and Sung by Dick Wingfield (1976) Folkways Records
  • American History in Ballad and Song, Vol.2 (1962) Folkways Records
  • Mark Twain: Readings from the Stories and from "Huckleberry Finn" (1961) Folkways Records
  • Hootenanny at Carnegie Hall (1960) Folkways Records
  • Bound for Glory: Songs and Stories of Woody Guthrie (1956) Folkways Records

References

  1. Kathleen Kennedy; Sharon Rena Ullman (2003). Sexual Borderlands: Constructing an American Sexual Past. Ohio State University Press. pp. 289–90. ISBN 978-0-8142-0927-1.
  2. http://www.democracyandsocialism.com/FameSocialism/Will_Geer.html
  3. https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/will-geer/
  4. American National Biography: Fishberg-Gihon, John Arthur Garraty, Mark Christopher Carnes, American Council of Learned Societies, Oxford University Press, 1999
  5. "Christine-Alcorn - User Trees". genealogy.com.
  6. Michael Bronski "The real Harry Hay", Boston Phoenix, October 31, 2002
  7. ^ Denning, Michael, The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century, Verso (1998), ISBN 1-85984-170-8, ISBN 978-1-85984-170-9, p. 14
  8. ^ Stuart Timmons, The Trouble With Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement (1990)
  9. ""The Plot to Overthrow Christmas: Norman Corwin", Tangent online". Archived from the original on September 21, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  10. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  11. https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/will-geer/
  12. "H. Rept. 82-2516 - Annual report of the Committee on Un-American Activities for the year 1952. December 28, 1952. (Original release date.) January 3, 1953. -- Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. December 28, 1952. p. 45. Retrieved June 29, 2023. Appeared Apr. 11, 1951, and refused to affirm or deny membership in Communist Party.
  13. "H. Rept. 82-378 - Report on the Communist "peace" offensive. A campaign to disarm and defeat the United States. April 25, 1951. -- Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. April 25, 1951. pp. 105, 108, 109. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  14. Kevin Starr, Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance 1950–1963, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 469
  15. Hay, Harry; Roscoe, William. Radically Gay : Gay Liberation in the Words of Its Founder, Beacon Press, 1996, p. 356
  16. Levy, Dan (June 23, 2000). "Ever the Warrior: Gay rights icon Harry Hay has no patience for assimilation". San Francisco Chronicle. p. DD–8. Archived from the original on June 18, 2013.
  17. John Gallagher, "Harry Hay's Legacy" (obituary) The Advocate, November 26, 2002; pp. 15; No. 877; ISSN 0001-8996
  18. D'Emilio, p. 59
  19. "An interview with Will Geer from 'The Waltons'". Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  20. Gupte, Pranay (April 24, 1978). "Will Geer Dies at 76 After Career As Character Actor for Six Decades". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  21. Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 17144). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.

External links

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
1959–1975
1976–2000
2001–present
The Waltons
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