Fritz Weaver
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
A celebrated and durable American stage actor whose TV and film appearances have not captured the commanding power he elicits in the theater, Fritz Weaver portrayed both sympathetic and calculatingly villainous characters, often demonstrating an upper-crust bearing made more plausible by the long, thin, pinched appearance of his trademark nose. He is perhaps best known worldwide for his portrayal of Dr. Josef Weiss, the doomed patriarch of a Berlin Jewish family, in the 1978 NBC miniseries "Holocaust."
The Pittsburgh native began his professional stage career with the Barter Theatre in 1952. Within two years, Weaver was featured in the Off-Broadway production of "The Way of the World" and the following year earned his first Tony Award nomination for his performance in Broadway's "The Chalk Garden." Since the 1950s, he delivered a string of acclaimed stage portrayals ranging from the titular "Miss Lonelyhearts" on Broadway in 1957 to Sherlock Holmes in the 1965 musical "Baker Street" to his Tony-winning role as the headmaster of a Catholic boys' school in "Child's Play" (1970). Weaver subsequently acted in classics ("King Lear" 1991; "The Crucible" 1992), one-man shows ("Lincoln" 1976) and contemporary dramas (Lanford Wilson's "Angels Fall" 1982-83; A.R. Gurney's "The Cocktail Hour" 1990).
Although he has appeared in a modest number of features, Weaver generally delivered strong, memorable performances. His roles have encompassed everything from an Army colonel with a superiority complex in "Fail Safe" (1964), a foundation head who wants to use marine mammals for political purposes in "The Day of the Dolphin" (1973) and the obsessive computer wizard in "The Demon Seed" (1977). Weaver was in the ensemble cast of "Creepshow" (1982) and was the losing political candidate who does not take Richard Gere's advice in Sidney Lumet's "Power" (1986). On the small screen, Weaver began in prestige versions of stage plays and segued to patrician, sometimes vile characters. He was cast as the overbearing father in "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" (NBC, 1975), starring Elizabeth Montgomery, played John Ericson, the designer of the Monitor, a proto-submarine used by the Union forces in the Civil War, in "Ironclads" (TNT, 1991) and portrayed US Senator Everett Dirksen in the 1992 HBO biopic "Citizen Cohn." Over his long career, Weaver lent his distinctive vocal talents to voice-overs and narrations of films and TV documentaries. Weaver passed away at his Manhattan home on November 26, 2016.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1952
Stage acting debut with Barter Theatre, Abingdon, VA
1953
Joined the Group 20 Players in Wellesley, MA
1954
Off-Broadway debut, "The Way of the World"
1955
Broadway debut, "The Chalk Garden"
1955
Narrated the film "The Crimson Curtain"
1955
Early TV appearance on "Kraft Television Theatre"
1958
Was "Hamlet" for the American Shakespeare Festival
1958
Had title role of "Hamlet" at the American Shakespeare Festival
1964
Made first feature film appearance, "Fail Safe"
1964
Film acting debut, "Fail Safe"
1967
TV-movie debut, "The Borgia Stick" (NBC)
1970
Breakthrough stage role in the Broadway production of "Child's Play"; won Tony Award as Lead Actor in a Play
1978
Cast opposite Rosemary Harris as the patriarch Josef Weiss in the NBC miniseries "Holocaust"
1978
Starred in NBC miniseries, "Holocaust"
1986
Last feature film role to date, "Power"
1992
Cast as US Senator Everett Dirksen in the HBO biopic "Citizen Cohn"
1997
Had featured role in the Showtime TV-movie "Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women"
2000
Co-starred in an Off-Broadway staging of Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
