Herta Ware

The meek, gamin, child-like aura and unassuming tiny frame of this veteran character lady belied a surprising survivor instinct and strong, liberal fortitude. Herta Ware Schwartz was born on June 9, 1917 in Wilmington, Delaware, to Helen (Ware), a musician and violin teacher, and Laszlo Schwartz, an actor. Her father was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant from Budapest, and her mother, a violinist 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, her maternal grandmother was labor organizer and socialist Ella Reeve Bloor, and her uncle was activist Harold Ware. . A guitarist and folk singer in the Washington D.C. area, she moved to New York City and began acting in the early 1930s. She made her Broadway debut in the 1935 leftist play "Let Freedom Ring" co-starring future husband Will Geer, whom she married in 1938. 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 relocated to Los Angeles in the early 1940s and settled in Santa Monica where Geer pursued a movie career. The couple had three children -- all future actors Kate Geer, Ellen Geer and Thad Geer. In 1951, the passionately liberal Geer was blacklisted by Hollywood during the McCarthy era for taking the Fifth Amendment and refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Financially strapped and with his film career destroyed, they eventually lost their Los Angeles home. Herta fortunately had bought five acres of land in Topanga Canyon in preparation for the fallout of their political activism. Thanks to Geer's degree in botany, the couple was adept in cultivating their land and subsisted by selling vegetables, fruit, and herbs. Years later, Geer and Ware co-founded the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum on their Topanga Canyon property. The theater became an outdoor performance space for politically-targeted writers, singers and actors to continue to hone and indulge their creative skills. Outspoken friends and performers such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger frequently came to their aid and often promoted/performed in their outside productions. The burgeoning theater officially opened as a summer theater in 1973. Although Will and Herta divorced back in 1954, the two remained steadfast friends personally and professionally. She was, in fact, at Geer's bedside when he passed away of a respiratory ailment in 1978. After his death, Ware, her family, and a small troupe of dedicated actors tirelessly dedicated their energies to transforming the Theatricum into a professional repertory theatre, with educational programs and musical events incorporated into its programs. The theatre's artistic directorship was turned over to actress/daughter Ellen Geer. Herta remarried near the end of 1954. She and actor/singer David Marshall had one child, actress Melora Marshall, before divorcing in 1978. In the 1970's, the veteran actress had a surprising career resurgence and made her on-camera debut in the film The Memory of Us (1974) that starred ex-husband Will and daughter Ellen. A sprinkling of silver-haired, sweet old lady characters followed, including those in The Black Marble (1980), Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (1980), 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), Slam Dance (1987), Promised Land (1987), Dirty Laundry (1987), Critters 2: The Main Course (1988), Dakota (1988), Soapdish (1991), Lonely Hearts (1991), Top Dog (1995), Species (1995), St. Patrick's Day (1997), Practical Magic (1998), The Politics of Desire (1998), Cruel Intentions (1999), Held Up (1999), Beautiful (2000), and Desperate But Not Serious (1999). Her best remembered role was as the altruistic wife of grouchy oldster Jack Gilford in the popular senior citizen film Cocoon (1985), directed by Ron Howard, and its sequel, Cocoon: The Return (1988), directed by Daniel Petrie. Herta also moved into TV roles. Among those credits, she played Capt. Jean Luc Picard's mother in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), as well as appearing on such established programs as "Knot's Landing," "Highway to Heaven," "Scarecrow and Mrs. King," "Amazing Stories," "Beauty and the Beast," "Cagney & Lacey," "The Golden Girls," " The Munsters Today" and "Tracy Takes On... ." The veteran actress published her own memoir "Fantastic Journey, My Life with Will Geer" in 2000 and continued performing for a time at the Botanicum as the "Matriarch of the Topanga Community." Many of her children and grandchildren have gone on to becoming steady performers at the Botanicum. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, she died of complications in Topanga on August 15, 2005. Her ashes, as those of ex-husband Geer, were spread at the outdoor theatre.