Will Geer

Will Geer
Geer (with Ellen Corby) as Grandpa "Zeb" Walton in The Waltons
Born
William Aughe Ghere

(1902-03-09)March 9, 1902
DiedApril 22, 1978(1978-04-22) (aged 76)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • musician
  • social activist
Years active1927–1978
Spouse
(m. 1934; div. 1954)
PartnerHarry Hay (1932-1934)[1]
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 other 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.

  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.