Herta Ware

About Herta Ware

Who is it?: Actress
Birth Day: June 09, 1917
Birth Place:  Wilmington, Delaware, United States
Died On: August 15, 2005 (aged 88)\nTopanga, California, U.S.
Birth Sign: Cancer
Occupation: Actress
Years active: 1930s–? (stage) 1978–2000 (film & television)
Spouse(s): Will Geer (1934–1954; divorced; 3 children) David Marshall (divorced; 1 child)
Children: Kate Geer Chad Geer Ellen Geer Melora Marshall

Herta Ware Net Worth

Herta Ware was born on June 09, 1917 in  Wilmington, Delaware, United States, is Actress. The meek, docile, child-like aura and unassuming tiny frame of this veteran character lady belied a surprising survivor instinct and strong, liberal fortitude.Actress Herta Ware was born Herta Schwartz in 1917 in Wilmington, Delaware, to Helen (Ware), a musician and violin teacher, and Lazlo Schwartz, an actor. Her uncle was activist Harold Ware. Her father was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant from Budapest, and her mother was a many-generations American of colonial stock. Her maternal grandfather was a union activist who joined the Socialist Party in America during the early 1900s, and her maternal grandmother was labor organizer and socialist Ella Reeve Bloor.Ware began acting in plays in New York City in the 1930s. She made her Broadway debut in "Let Freedom Ring", co-starring husband Will Geer. The couple appeared together in other New York plays as well, including "Bury the Dead" (1936), "Prelude" (1936), "200 Were Chosen" (1936) and "Journeyman (1938). The politically-minded couple moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940s and settled in Santa Monica where Geer pursued a movie career. The couple had three children. In 1951, the passionately liberal Geer was blacklisted by Hollywood for taking the Fifth Amendment and refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Financially strapped with his film career destroyed, they eventually lost their Los Angeles home.Geer and Ware subsequently co-founded the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum on land that Herta bought in Topanga Canyon. The theater remained an invitation for targeted artists to continue to hone their creative skills. Outspoken friends and performers such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger frequently came to their aid and often promoted and performed in their outside productions. The burgeoning theater officially opened as a summer theater in 1973. Will and Herta divorced in the 1950s but remained steadfast friends. She published her own memoir "Fantastic Journey, My Life with Will Geer" in 2000 and was at Geer's bedside when he passed away of a respiratory ailment in 1978. Herta continued performing at the Botanicum as the "Matriarch of the Topanga Community." By age 60, she had moved occasionally into TV and movie-making playing sweet old things. She is probably best known for her role as the altruistic wife of grouchy oldster Jack Gilford in the popular senior citizen film Cocoon (1985),.Among the credits during her long career, she played Capt. Jean Luc Picard's mother in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and appeared in such films as Soapdish (1991) and Practical Magic (1998). She also appeared on television in episodes of ER (1994), The Golden Girls (1985), Cagney & Lacey (1981), Knots Landing (1979), and other shows.Many of her children and grandchildren have gone on to becoming performers at the Botanicum. Of her acting children Kate, Thad and Ellen (by actor Geer), Ellen Geer has been a longstanding artistic director of the theater. Her other daughter Melora Marshall, (by second husband/actor David Marshall) is also a consistently vibrant presence on the outdoor stage.Herta Ware appeared in plays, films and TV shows and helped found the popular outdoor Southern California theater Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.
Herta Ware is a member of Actress

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Herta Ware images

Biography/Timeline

1934

In 1934, Ware married actor Will Geer, with whom she had three children. She and Geer were politically-minded and relocated to Los Angeles in the early 1940s and settled in Santa Monica so that Geer could pursue his movie career. In 1951, the passionately left-wing Geer became blacklisted by Hollywood for taking the Fifth Amendment and refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. With Geer's film career destroyed, and falling into financial difficulties, the couple lost their Los Angeles home. The pair divorced in 1954 but remained close friends. Ware later married actor David Marshall, with whom she had one child, a daughter, Actress Melora Marshall. They later divorced. Ware and Geer reunited in 1973 and subsequently co-founded the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, which was on five acres of land that Ware purchased in Topanga Canyon for $10,000. The burgeoning theater officially opened as a summer theater in 1973. She stayed by Geer's bedside as he died of a respiratory ailment in 1978. In 2000, Ware published her own memoir Fantastic Journey, My Life with Will Geer.

1935

Ware made her Broadway debut in Let Freedom Ring (November 6, 1935–February 1936), co-starring husband Will Geer, whom she had married in 1934. The couple appeared together in other New York plays, including Bury the Dead (1936), Prelude (1936), 200 Were Chosen (1936) and Journeyman (1938), and Six O'Clock Theatre (1948), all of which were short-lived.

1978

She made her on-screen debut in 1978, when she appeared in the television film, A Question of Guilt. Subsequently, she appeared in her first feature film 1980, The Black Marble. Her second feature film was Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, which featured Oliver Reed. She starred in 2010 in 1984. She is perhaps most recognized for her performance in the classic film Ron Howard's Cocoon, and appeared in the sequel Cocoon: The Return. She appeared in Critters 2: The Main Course as "Nana". She had roles in several other well-known films such as, Species, Practical Magic, with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and Cruel Intentions, with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Philippe. Her role in the 1992 television film Crazy in Love earned her a CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries.

2005

Ware died in 2005, due to complications of Parkinson's disease, aged 88, in Topanga, California. Her ashes and those of her husband, Will Geer, were scattered at their outdoor theatre.