Actress
Actress and activist Herta Ware, who was married to blacklisted actor Will Geer and helped form the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, died August 15 in Topanga, Calif. She was 88.
Public memorial services are scheduled for Sept. 10 at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum; for further information call (310) 455-2322.
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she became a singer/songwriter and classical actress and married Geer in 1934. She performed in Broadway shows “The Cradle Will Rock” and “Let Freedom Ring” with Geer.
Her roles at the Theatricum Botanicum ranged from Amanda in Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” to the soothsayer in “Skin of Our Teeth” by Thornton Wilder, to her annual performance accompanied by her own dog Willie in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Her film roles included “2010,” “Cocoon,” “Slam Dance,” “Species” “Top Dog” and “Cruel Intentions.”
On TV, she appeared in “Amazing Stories,” “Knots Landing,” “Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” “Golden Girls,” “Cagney and Lacey” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation”; she received an ACE award for “Crazy in Love,” a TNT movie special. In 2000 she released a self-titled CD of her own songs.
Ware and Geer worked with the labor movement in the ’30s and ’40s, and the family performed with Woody Guthrie at labor rallies and immigrant camps.
The couple lost their home in the 1950s when Geer was blacklisted, and after a short period of travelling around the country, moved to the property in Topanga which is now the Theatricum Botanicum. The Theatricum Botanicum was formed in 1973, and since Will Geer’s death in 1978 has been run by daughter Ellen Geer and family members. Although the couple divorced in the 1950s, they remained close.
She is survived by daughters Ellen Geer, Kate Geer and Melora Marshall and a son Thad Geer, all of whom are actors; nine grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Donations may be sent to the Theatricum, care of Herta’s Young Actor Fund, P.O. Box 1222, Topanga, CA 90290.
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