Fritz Weaver was a classy stage actor who successfully made the transition
to film and television. He was tall, lean and sedate looking with a long
kindly face, bushy hair and booming resonant voice, a result of his stage
training no doubt. He played roles of the average man caught up in extraordinary
circumstances most often and did so with flair. He was born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania on January 19, 1926. He received a BA in Theatre Arts from
the University of Chicago and moved on to New York and the Broadway stage.
He won a Tony Award in 1970 for his role in "Child's Play." In
the early 1950s during television's infancy he appeared on many live dramas
on such shows as "The U.S. Steel Hour"; "Studio One";
"Dupont Show of the Month" and "Armstrong Circle Theatre"
as did many other Broadway stars. Later he appeared in the more mainstream
TV productions. He appeared in films less frequently, but always successfully.
His film credits include: "Fail Safe" (1964) as Col. Cascio, his
theatrical film debut; "The Maltese Bippy" (1969) as Ravenswood;
"Walk in the Spring Rain" (1970) as Roger Meredith; "The
Day of the Dolphin" (1973) with George C. Scott, as Harold DeMilo;
"Marathon Man" (1976) with Dustin Hoffman, as Prof. Biedenthal;
"Black Sunday" (1977) as Corley; "Creepshow" (1982)
as Dexter Stanley (in "The Crate'}; "Power" (1986) as Wallace
Furman and "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1999) as John Reynolds.
On TV he appeared on the soap "All My Children" (1992-98) as Hugo
Marick and in the mini-series: "Holocaust" (1978) as Josef Weiss,
in one of his best roles; "The Martian Chronicles" (1980) with
Rock Hudson, as Father Peregrine and "Dream West" (1986) as Sen.
Thomas Hart Benton. He also appeared in numerous TV movies including: "The
Borgia Stick" (1967); "The Snoop Sisters" (1972) with Helen
Hayes; "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" (1975) with Elizabeth Montgomery
and "Citizen Cohn" (1992). He guest starred on many TV series
including: "Twilight Zone"; "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.";
"Rawhide"; "The Fugitive"; "Mission: Impossible";
"Combat"; "The Invaders"; "Kung Fu"; "Hawaii
5-O"; "Matlock"; "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine";
"The X-Files" and "Frasier." He continues working on
stage, film and television.
