Herta Ware

Herta Ware
Born	Herta Schwartz June 9, 1917 Wilmington, Delaware
Died	August 15, 2005 (aged 88) Topanga, California
Occupation	Actress
Years active	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 (June 9, 1917 – August 15, 2005) was an American actress and political activist.

Early life

Ware was born Herta Schwartz in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of Helen Ware, a musician and violin teacher, and Lazlo Schwartz, an actor who was born in Budapest. Her mother's brother was activist Harold Ware and her maternal grandmother was labor organizer and socialist Ella Reeve Bloor. Her father was Jewish and her mother was from a Christian background.

Career

Ware made her Broadway debut in "Let Freedom Ring", co-starring Will Geer, whom she 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).

She made her on-screen debut in 1978, when she appeared in the television film A Question of Guilt. Subsequently, Ware appeared in her first feature film 1980, The Black Marble. What followed was a number of films between 1980 and 2000. Her second feature film was the comedy-horror Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, which featured English actor Oliver Reed. She starred in the sci-fi film 2010 in 1984 alongside Roy Scheider and Helen Mirren. 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 may also be highly recognized for her role in the popular sequel Critters 2: The Main Course, as 'Nana', the grandmother of Scott Grimes' character Brad Brown. She received 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.

Ware has made many guest appearances on classic television series including, Knots Landing, Highway to Heaven, Cagney & Lacey, The Golden Girls and ER, to name a few. She and her daughter, Ellen both made guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Beauty and the Beast.

Personal life

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. 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. The pair divorced in 1954 but remained close friends. 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.

Death

Ware died in 2005, due to complications of Parkinson's disease. She resided in Topanga, California at the time of her death. Her and Will Geer's ashes were scattered at their outdoor theatre.

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Role	Directed by
The Black Marble	1980	Grand Duchess	Harold Becker
Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype		Old Lady on Bus	Charles B. Griffith
2010	1984	Jessie Bowman	Peter Hyams
Cocoon	1985	Rosie Lefkowitz	Ron Howard
Slam Dance	1987	Mrs. Raines	Wayne Wang
Promised Land		Mrs. Higgins	Michael Hoffman
Dirty Laundry		Grandmother Verna	William Webb
Critters 2: The Main Course	1988	Nana	Mick Garris
Cocoon: The Return		Rose Lefkowitz	Daniel Petrie
Dakota		Aunt Zard	Fred Holmes
Soapdish	1991	Old Woman	Michael Hoffman
Lonely Hearts		Gran	Andrew Lane
Top Dog	1995	Jake's Mother	Aaron Norris
Species		Mrs. Morris	Roger Donaldson
St. Patrick's Day	1997	Aunt Delia	Hope Perello
Practical Magic	1998	Old Lady Wilkes	Griffin Dunne
The Politics of Desire		The Radio Listener	Petrie Alexandra
Cruel Intentions	1999	Mrs. Sugarman	Roger Kumble
Held Up		Alice	Steve Rash
Beautiful	2000	Clara	Sally Field
Desperate But Not Serious		Grammy	Bill Fishman

Television

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Knots Landing	1983	Ethel Marcus	Season 5, episode 14 "Secrets Cry Aloud"
Highway to Heaven	1984	Grandma	Season 1, episode 13 "Another Song for Christmas"
Wildside	1985	Mrs. Brinkenhoff	Season 1, episode 1 "Well-Known Secret" (pilot)
Scarecrow and Mrs. King			Season 3, episode 3 "Over the Limit"
Crossings	1986	Mrs. Emma Zimmerman	Television mini-series; episode 1
Amazing Stories		Grandma Helen	Season 1, episode 24 "Grandpa's Ghost" (season finale)
Sidekicks		Mamie	Season 1, episode 12 "Grey Belts"
Crime Story	1987	Old Lady	Season 1, episode 19 "The Pinnacle"
Beauty and the Beast		Sylvia	Season 1, episode 3 "Siege"
Star Trek: The Next Generation		Yvette Picard	Season 1, episode 6 "Where No One Has Gone Before"
Cagney & Lacey	1988	Wilma Milton	Season 7, episode 10 "Old Flames"
The Golden Girls		Ida	Season 4, episode 8 "Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket?"
Just the Ten of Us	1989	Sister Cyril	Season 2, episode 10 "Song of Constance"
The Munsters Today	1990	The Widow Johansen	Season 2, episode 24 "That's Gratitude" (season finale)
The New Adam-12	1991	Claire	Season 1, episode 20 "221 Pizza"
Eerie, Indiana		Mary B. Carter	Season 1, episode 8 "The Dead Letter"
Civil Wars	1992		Season 2, episode 3 "Oboe Phobia"
ER	1994	Mrs. Franks	Season 1, episode 2 "Day One"
Misery Loves Company	1995	Old Hildy	Season 1, episode 5 "The Witches of East 6th" (unaired episode)
Tracy takes on...	1996	Ida Letivz	Season 1, episode 6 "Law"
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction	1998–2000	Old Woman	Season 2, episode 9 (story 3 - "The Getaway") Season 3, episode 3 ("The Find", "The Golden Cue", "The FBI Story", "The Gravedigger's Nemesis" & "Last Rites" - all 5 stories from #3.3)

Television films

Title	Year	Role	Notes
A Question of Guilt	1978	Miriam's Mother
Child's Cry	1986	Mrs. Hartounian
Miracle Landing	1990	Dorothy Hendricks
Crazy in Love	1992	Pem	CableAce Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Alien Nation: Millennium	1996	Alana
Co-ed Call Girl		Customer

Other appearances

• Medieval Theater: The Play of Abraham and Isaac ... Mary Pink, Mother (short documentary) (1974)
• Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin' (documentary) (1984)
• When Jesus Was a Kid (video short) (1993)

External links

• Herta Ware at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Herta Ware at the Internet Movie Database
• Herta Ware at the Internet Broadway Database