Herta goods

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Herta Ware (born June 19, 1917 in Wilmington , Delaware , USA , † August 15, 2005 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress and theater principal.

The early years

Herta Ware was born as Herta Schwartz as the daughter of an artist couple. Her mother Helen Ware was a musician and violin teacher, her Budapest-born father Lazlo Schwartz was an actor. Her maternal grandmother was union activist and socialist Ella Reeve Bloor, also known as "Mother Bloor," and her uncle Harold Ware was a well-known activist. Ware began her acting career on Broadway in the early 30's . There she met her future husband Will Geer , whom she married in 1938 and with whom she had daughter Ellen Geer and later two other children in 1941 .

Social and political engagement

The couple got involved both socially and politically. Herta Ware's grandmother, the unionist Ella Reeve Bloor (1862–1951), had already become a member of the Socialist Party of America at the beginning of the century . During the Great Depression, Ware and Geer traveled through America with songwriters friends Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and played primarily for a working-class audience. In 1940 they settled in Los Angeles. In the McCarthy era , Geer was banned from working as a communist because he refused to cooperate with the Committee on Un-American Activities .

Theatricum Botanicum

The couple then moved to Topanga, California, where they founded a small theater, which in 1973 became the Theatricum Botanicum , which primarily offered work for politically persecuted stage workers.

The couple separated in the 1950s . After Herta Wares divorced her second marriage to fellow actor David Marshall, she returned to Topanga and first ran the successful theater together with Geer, with whom she was friends throughout her life, and after his death she ran the successful theater, which now also offers acting courses and from run by their daughter Ellen Geer .

Film and television career

It was not until she was over 60 that Herta Ware began to take on roles in film and television productions. In 1980 she made her feature film debut in the comedy Hollywood Cops . Over the next 20 years of her career, Herta Ware played numerous character roles in large-scale productions such as the science fiction film 2010 - The Year We Make Contact in Ron Howard's Cocoon films, alongside Meg Ryan in Promised Land , alongside Kevin Kline , Whoopi Goldberg and Sally Field in the satire Favorite Enemies - A Soap Opera , next to Ben Kingsley in the science fiction shocker Species , next to Sarah Michelle Gellar in the Choderlos de Laclos adaptation Ice Cold Angels and next to Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in the fantasy comedy Magical Sisters . In addition, she made numerous guest appearances in television series such as Under the California Sun , Emergency Room , Golden Girls and Star Trek - The Next Generation as the mother of Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ).

In 2000 Herta Ware published her memoir under the title Fantastic Journey, My Life With Will Geer. She died on August 15, 2005 at the age of 88 with her family in Los Angeles.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Goods, Herta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actress and theater manager
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Wilmington , Delaware
DATE OF DEATH August 15, 2005
Place of death Los Angeles , California