Actress. Herta Ware is remembered as an American character actress during the 20th century, who was married to actor Will Geer. During the United States Senator Joseph McCarthy's witchhunt for Communist spies, her husband's interest in liberal politics resulted in him being blacklisted in Hollywood in 1951. This blacklisting was supported by the Screen Actor's Guild, thus there was no employment for the two in professional acting. At that point, she co-founded with her husband what would become The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum located in Topanga in Southern California for blacklisted actors. As an actress, she is best known playing opposite actor Jack Gilford's role as his wife, Rosie Lefkowitz, in the 1985 film "Cocoon." She was an actress that graced stage, film, and television. Born Herta Schwartz, her mother was a musician and her father, a Jewish Hungarian immigrant, was an actor, and her uncle Harold Ware, an active American Communist. As a young singer and songwriter, she met her husband, Will Geer, who was a close companion of Harry Hay , the founder of the earliest gay rights group in the United States, Mattachine Society. When Geer left that group, the couple married in 1934. After her marriage, she appeared in such Broadway productions as "Let Freedom Ring” in 1935, "The Cradle Will Rock” in 1937, “Skin of Our Teeth” in 1942 and "The Glass Menagerie” in 1945. During the 1930s, she and her husband performed together in six short-lived Broadway plays. Joining with her maternal grandmother, Ella Reeve Bloor, who was a socialist labor organizer, she and her husband became activists in the Labor Movement in the 1930s and 1940s. After her husband refused to testify before the U.S. Congress’ Committee on Un-American Activities, the couple lost their home in 1951 as the result of being blacklisted from working as actors. To earn a income for their young family of three children, the couple grew and sold vegetables, fruit and herbs and started the outside garden theater, Theatricum Botanicum, on a five-acre property that she had purchased years earlier. Not only did they perform at the theater, but Greer also coached actors, held political and philosophical discussions, and started folk singing groups. She divorced Geer in 1954, but they remained professional colleagues. The same year, she married actor David Marshall, had a daughter, and divorced Marshall in 1978. The blacklist was lifted in 1961. In 1972, Geer landed the role he would become most known, playing Grandpa in the television series, “The Waltons,” yet died suddenly of a heart attack in 1978. She would finally make her film debut in 1980 with "The Black Marble." Other films she appeared in include "2010" in 1984; "Slam Dance" and "Promised Land” both in 1987; "Species," and "Top Dog," both in 1995; and "Cruel Intentions" in 1999. She also made several television appearances such as “ER,” "Knots Landing," "Scarecrow and Mrs. King," "Cagney and Lacey" and as the mother of Captian Jean Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." She also made a memorable appearance on "The Golden Girls" in 1988, where she portrayed an elderly woman put on the street when she could no longer pay the bills at her rest home. Her last role was in Minnie Driver's 2000 comedy, "Beautiful.” She published her 2000 memoir, "Fantastic Journey, My Life With Will Geer." Ware died from complications of Parkinson Disease. Since 2016, the Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum has been a member of The Folger Shakespeare Library Theatre Partnership Program under the successful direction of her and Geer's daughter, Ellen.