Jump to content

Will Geer: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
TruthCrusader (talk | contribs)
1,250 edits
r/v due to improper citing of very ambiguous sources for speculative assertations by unregistered user.
Line 23: Line 23:


Geer was also a [[social activism|social activist]], touring government work camps in the 1930s with [[folk singer]]s like [[Burl Ives]] and [[Woody Guthrie]]. In fact, he is credited with introducing Guthrie to [[Pete Seeger]] at the Grapes of Wrath benefit Geer organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers. He worked on several left-oriented documentaries, including narrating [[Sheldon Dick]]'s ''Men and Dust'', about [[silicosis]] among miners. In the [[1950s]] he was [[blacklist]]ed 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|Topanga Canyon]], [[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.
Geer was also a [[social activism|social activist]], touring government work camps in the 1930s with [[folk singer]]s like [[Burl Ives]] and [[Woody Guthrie]]. In fact, he is credited with introducing Guthrie to [[Pete Seeger]] at the Grapes of Wrath benefit Geer organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers. He worked on several left-oriented documentaries, including narrating [[Sheldon Dick]]'s ''Men and Dust'', about [[silicosis]] among miners. In the [[1950s]] he was [[blacklist]]ed 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|Topanga Canyon]], [[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.

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" [[Rudi Gernreich]] (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.

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)[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/eng_peopleevents/p_shibley.html] 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 [http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_search.aspx?ms=+Shibley] who also represented one of the Mattachine Society communists on solicitation for sodomy charges during the same time frame.

During WWII and during the period immediately following WWII. [http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/02511115.htm] 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" [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hay]]

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 [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/445836/index.html] after the Hungarian communist government was overthrown by the fascists in 1919. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoltán_Korda]


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 [[cremation|cremated]], and his ashes buried at the Theatricum Botanicum in the "Shakespeare Garden."
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 [[cremation|cremated]], and his ashes buried at the Theatricum Botanicum in the "Shakespeare Garden."

Revision as of 19:15, 18 October 2007

Will Geer
File:Tvg82176.jpg
Will Geer (center) with Waltons costars Richard Thomas and Ellen Corby (TV Guide, August 21, 1976)
Born
William Auge Ghere
SpouseHerta Ware (1934-1954)

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

Geer 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. But he eventually succumbed to the allure of acting.

He began his career touring in tent shows and on river boats. He eventually made his way to Broadway, and in 1964 received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for 110 in the Shade.

He was married to the actress Herta Ware, best known for her poignant performance as the wife of Jack Gilford in Cocoon. Geer and Ware had 3 children, including actress Ellen Geer. Although they eventually divorced they remained close. Ware also had a daughter, actress Melora Marshall, by another marriage.

Geer was also a social activist, touring government work camps in the 1930s with folk singers like Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie. In fact, he is credited with introducing Guthrie to Pete Seeger at the Grapes of Wrath benefit Geer organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers. He worked on several left-oriented documentaries, including narrating Sheldon Dick's Men and Dust, about silicosis among miners. 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 Canyon, 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.

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

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

Trivia

In the German 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 Bavarian short form of the name "Joseph", which was considered a cliché for an older man. The real Sam Walton was the founder of Wal-Mart.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Will_Geer&oldid=165468629"