System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Will Geer
1902 - 1978
Will Geer, best known for his role as Grandpa on The Waltons, died April 22, 1978. He was 76.
Geer was born William Aughe Ghere on March 9, 1902 in Frankfort, Indiana. The acting bug hooked Geer at an early age. One of his teachers, Flora Muller, arranged for him to be a frequent audience member at poetry recitations, and Geer credits her with developing his memory for learning lines.
Geer's father left his family when Geer was nine. His mother moved the family to Chicago, but returned to Frankfort where Geer finished high school. He performed in several school plays and won an elocution contest for his recitations.
After high school, Geer enrolled in the University of Chicago with a horticulture scholarship. Half way through school, acting became his passion. He appeared in his first production in 1923---Peter Ibbetson at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis.
Geer graduated from college in 1924 and became an actor. And while he appeared in dozens of Hollywood movies and Broadway plays, his best-known role was as Zebulon Walton, the patriarch of the Walton family in the long running television series, The Waltons.
One interesting sidelight of Geer's career was his blacklisting by Senator Joseph McCarthy during the early 1950's. McCarthy's infamous list of card-carrying communists included Geer who, because of the blackballing, ended up broke and homeless. He moved his family into an old farmhouse in the Santa Monica Mountains, where he would perform Shakespeare for anyone who would stop by. The house today is a training facility for young actors.
Geer died on April 22, 1978.
