Editing Will Geer (section)

{{Short description|American actor (1902–1978)}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Will Geer
| image              = The Waltons 1974.JPG
| caption            = Geer (with [[Ellen Corby]]) as Grandpa "Zeb" Walton in ''[[The Waltons]]''
| birthname          = William Aughe Ghere
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1902|3|9}}
| birth_place        = [[Frankfort, Indiana]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1978|4|22|1902|3|9}}
| death_place        = [[Los Angeles, California]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Actor|musician|social activist}}
| yearsactive        = 1927–1978
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Herta Ware]]|1934|1954|reason=divorced}}
| children           = 3, including [[Ellen Geer]]
| partner            = [[Harry Hay]] (1932-1934)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kathleen Kennedy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3sWFu3IchEMC&q=Harry+Hay+recounted+being+drawn+into+the+Communist+Party+through+his+then+lover%2C+gay+communist+organizer+and+actor+Will+Geer. |title=Sexual Borderlands: Constructing an American Sexual Past |last2=Sharon Rena Ullman |publisher=Ohio State University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8142-0927-1 |pages=289–90}}</ref>
| relatives          = [[Willow 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 communist movements in New York City and [[Southern California]] in the 1930s and 1940s.<ref> {{Cite web |title=Welcome To Democracy & Socialism .Com |url=http://www.democracyandsocialism.com/FameSocialism/Will_Geer.html |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=www.democracyandsocialism.com}} </ref>{{r|IPM 2006-02-07}} In California, he befriended rising singer [[Woody Guthrie]]. They both lived in New York City for a time in the 1940s. He was [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] in the 1950s by [[Cinema of the United States|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.