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Post by patriciaanne on Mar 22, 2019 9:12:08 GMT -5
The reason I asked is I had read and heard he got into some trouble for his political views at some point in his career and wasn't in acting for a time. I couldn't recall when it started though. By reading through Carol's post, I note that Will was blacklisted in 1951. You may view a chronology of films & TV series, he appeared in during that period from his IMDB entry. Will Geer IMDB. IMDB is the Internet Movie Data Base. Joe McCarthy a Senator from Wisconsin, was so outlandish in his accusations that led to blacklisting many American performers and artists, he earned a censure (condemnation) from the US Senate in 1954. He and other actors who purported to be communist or who were thought to support communism were blacklisted. I believe Geer was pretty open about his support for communism, wasn't he? That was why he established his theater--so he and other blacklisted performers could practice their craft. All these years later and now it's politically conservative performers who are shunned (although not a "formal" blacklist).
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Grandpa
Mar 30, 2019 0:03:54 GMT -5
Post by Johnny on Mar 30, 2019 0:03:54 GMT -5
Interesting that Jay Silverheels (b. Harold Preston Smith) portrayed Geronimo a Chiricahua Apache, because Jay's ethnic origin is Mohawk (of the Iroquois Confederacy). As you probably know, Mohawk people are from the northeast US & into Canada. His dissimilarity to a southwestern Apache is large. However not too bad compared with Jeff Chandler a Jewish American actor from Brooklyn., who portrayed Cochise. You wouldn't believe the number of New Yorkers who claim some American Indian heritage -- some sort of badge of honor! I think in this case, at the time this film was made, there were several good native American actors, but the majority of lead parts were still given to American actors of European descent to portray native people..
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Grandpa
Jun 23, 2019 6:24:42 GMT -5
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Post by Johnny on Jun 23, 2019 6:24:42 GMT -5
Will Geer portrayed Judge Emmitt Marcus in a Kung Fu episode called The Ancient Warrior. which aired May 1973.
here are a couple of images along with Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine).
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Grandpa
Jun 23, 2019 10:51:53 GMT -5
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Post by JeriJet on Jun 23, 2019 10:51:53 GMT -5
You wouldn't believe the number of New Yorkers who claim some American Indian heritage -- some sort of badge of honor! I think in this case, at the time this film was made, there were several good native American actors, but the majority of lead parts were still given to American actors of European descent to portray native people.. I think most castings had more to do with the role and the actor's abilities -- I don't think a lot of thought was necessarily given to specific ethnic origins of the actor.... not true in all cases, of course. With Jay Silverheels, I bet it had much to do with his physical appearance -- didn't matter to producers if he was Apache or Mohawk !!
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Post by Johnny on Jun 24, 2019 2:00:14 GMT -5
Will Geer portrayed Judge Emmitt Marcus in a Kung Fu episode called The Ancient Warrior. which aired May 1973. It is interesting Will portrayed Grandpa Walton & Judge Marcus concurrently in 1973, so it is no wonder he has the age appearance of Grandpa on both shows. 1973 was a busy year for Will as he had performance credits in nine additional TV shows & films. .
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Post by JeriJet on Jun 24, 2019 8:43:56 GMT -5
By reading through Carol's post, I note that Will was blacklisted in 1951. You may view a chronology of films & TV series, he appeared in during that period from his IMDB entry. Will Geer IMDB. IMDB is the Internet Movie Data Base. Joe McCarthy a Senator from Wisconsin, was so outlandish in his accusations that led to blacklisting many American performers and artists, he earned a censure (condemnation) from the US Senate in 1954. He and other actors who purported to be communist or who were thought to support communism were blacklisted. I believe Geer was pretty open about his support for communism, wasn't he? That was why he established his theater--so he and other blacklisted performers could practice their craft. All these years later and now it's politically conservative performers who are shunned (although not a "formal" blacklist). I've always enjoyed reading about all of Geer's "activist" leanings -- committed to his ideals, didn't care much about peoples' reactions.... his bi-sexuality didn't surprise me... the man wanted to experience all !!! -- Quite a character (just like Grandpa !!)...
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