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Will Geer (born March 9, 1902 in Frankfort, Indiana - died 22 April 1978) was an American actor. Geer's real name was William Auge Ghere. He is best known for his portrayal of the character "Grandpa" Zebulon "Zeb" 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 Columbia University. 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 had an early romantic relationship with late noted gay activist Harry Hay.

Geer was also a social activist, touring government work camps in the 1930s with folk singers like Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie. 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 ailment at the age of 76, his family sang Guthrie's This Land is Your Land on his deathbed, and recited poems by Robert Frost. Geer was cremated, and his ashes buried at the Theatricum Botanicum in the "Shakespeare Garden."

Filmography

Actor

1930s

• Misleading Lady (1932)
• Great Expectations (1934)
• Wild Gold (1934)
• Spitfire (1934)
• Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)
• Union Pacific (1939)

1940s

• The Fight for Life (1940)
• Deep Waters (1948)
• The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1948)
• Intruder in the Dust (1949)
• Anna Lucasta (1949)
• Lust for Gold (1949)
• Johnny Allegro (1949)

1950s

• To Please a Lady (1950)
• Convicted (1950)
• Broken Arrow (1950)
• Winchester '73 (1950)
• The Kid from Texas (1950)
• Comanche Territory (1950)
• It's a Small World (1950)
• The Barefoot Mailman (1951)
• Racket Squad (1951)
• The Tall Target (1951)
• Bright Victory (Film)Bright Victory (1951)
• Double Crossbones (1951)
• Salt of the Earth (1954)
• Mobs, Inc. (1956)

1960s

• Advise and Consent (1962)
• Black Like Me (1964)
• East Side/West Side (1964)
• Seconds (1966)
• The Trials of O'Brien (1966)
• The President's Analyst (1967)
• In Cold Blood (1967)
• The Crucible (1967)
• Garrison's Gorillas (1967)
• Certain Honorable Men (1968)
• Bandolero! (1968)
• Gunsmoke (1968)
• The Invaders (1968)
• Mission: Impossible (1968)
• Run for Your Life (1968)
• I Spy (1968)
• The Reivers (1969)
• Daniel Boone (1969)
• Then Came Bronson (1969)
• Hawaii Five-O (1969)
• Bonanza (1969)
• Here Come the Brides (1969)
• Mayberry R.F.D (1969)

1970s

• The Moonshine War (1970)
• Shooting the Moonshine War (1970)
• Pieces of Dreams (1970)
• The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970)
• Of Mice and Men (1970)
• The Bill Cosby Show (1970)
• The Bold Ones: The Senator (1970)
• Medical Center (1970)
• The Name of the Game (1970)
• Brother John (1971)
• Sam Hill: Who Killed Mr. Foster? (1971)
• The Bold Ones: The Lawyers (1971)
• O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971)
• Alias Smith and Jones (1971)
• Cade's County (1971)
• Love, American Style (1971)
• The Waltons (1972 to 1978)
• Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
• Napoleon and Samantha (1972)
• The Rowdyman (1972)
• The Scarecrow (1972)
• The Sixth Sense (1972)
• Bewitched (1972)
• Executive Action (1973)
• Isn't It Shocking? (1973)
• The Gift of Terror (1973)
• Savage (1973)
• Harry O (1973)
• Brock's Last Case (1973)
• Columbo: A Stitch in Crime (1973)
• Doc Elliot (1973)
• Kung Fu (1973)
• The ABC Afternoon Playbreak (1973)
• Night Gallery (1973)
• Hurricane (1974)
• Memory of Us (1974)
• Silence (1974)
• Honky Tonk (1974)
• The Hanged Man (1974)
• The Night That Panicked America (1975)
• The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975)
• Dear Dead Delilah (1975)
• Moving Violation (1976)
• Hollywood on Trial (1976)
• Law and Order (1976)
• The Blue Bird (1976)
• Starsky and Hutch (1976)
• The Billion Dollar Hobo (1977)
• The Love Boat (1977)
• Eight Is Enough (1977)
• A Woman Called Moses (1978)
• Unknown Powers (1978)
• CBS: On the Air (1978)
• The Mafu Cage (1979)

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.

External link

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