Fritz Weaver
Born	Fritz William Weaver (1926-01-19)January 19, 1926 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	November 26, 2016(2016-11-26) (aged 90) New York City,New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Peabody High School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1956–2016
Spouses	Sylvia Short ​ ​ (m. 1953; div. 1979)​ ; 2 children Rochelle Oliver ​ ​ (m. 1997⁠–⁠2016)​
Relatives	Mary Dodson (sister) Jack Dodson (brother-in-law)
Awards	See below

Fritz William Weaver (January 19, 1926 − November 26, 2016) was an American stage, film, and television actor.^[1][2][3] He won theTony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the original Broadway production ofChild's Play (1970), and was nominated forTony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play forThe Chalk Garden (1958).^[3]

On screen, he made his film debut inSidney Lumet'sFail Safe (1964), and appeared inMarathon Man (1976),Black Sunday (1977),Demon Seed (also 1977),Creepshow (1982), andThe Thomas Crown Affair (1999). He won aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in the television miniseriesHolocaust (1978).^[4]

Weaver was a fixture as a featured and guest actor on science fiction and fantasy shows, includingThe Twilight Zone,'Way Out,Night Gallery,The Martian Chronicles,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, andThe X-Files. He was also well known as aShakespearean, and for his portrayal ofSherlock Holmes in the stage musicalBaker Street.^[3]

Weaver was born inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 19, 1926,^[5] the son of Elsa W. Weaver (née Stringaro) and John Carson Weaver.^[4] His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh with deep American roots.^[6]

Weaver attended theFanny Edel Falk Laboratory School^[7] at theUniversity of Pittsburgh as a child, followed byPeabody High School. He served in theCivilian Public Service as aconscientious objector duringWorld War II.

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Following the war, Weaver worked at various jobs before turning to acting in the early 1950s. His first acting role for television came in 1956 for an episode ofThe United States Steel Hour. Weaver continued to act intelevision during the next four decades. In 1969, he appeared as Hebron Grant, a Mormon married to two women, onThe Big Valley in the episode "A Passage of Saints." He also appeared in several episodes of "Mission Impossible".

Weaver also appeared in the made-for-TV moviesHolocaust (1978) andThe Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) in which he played Andrew Borden. He earned anEmmy nomination for the former; the award went to his co-starMichael Moriarty.

Weaver won theTony Award for Best Actor in a Play and theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance for theBroadway playChild's Play (1970). His other Broadway credits includedThe Chalk Garden (Tony nomination andTheatre World Award win),All American,Baker Street,Absurd Person Singular, “The Price,”Love Letters, andThe Crucible. He appeared in the off-Broadway playBurnt Piano for the HB Playwrights Theatre, and withUta Hagen in a television adaptation ofNorman Corwin's playThe World ofCarl Sandburg.

Weaver also acted in motion pictures, generally as a supporting player. He appeared in such movies asFail-Safe (1964; as a jingoist and increasingly unstable U.S. Air Force colonel, ashamed of his foreign-born and alcoholic parents, whom he refers to as "those people"),Marathon Man (1976; as a professor advising the protagonist, a graduate student),Black Sunday (1977; as the lead FBI agent in an anti-terrorism effort),Creepshow (1982; as a scientist who discovers a monster in a crate), andJohn McTiernan's remake ofThe Thomas Crown Affair (1999). He also had roles inThe Day of the Dolphin (1973),Demon Seed (1977),The Big Fix (1978), andSidney Lumet'sPower (1986). Beginning in 1995, Weaver worked primarily as avoice actor, providing narration for programs on theHistory Channel. After making his third guest appearance onLaw & Order in 2005,^[8] Weaver made a "secret decision to retire."^[9]

In 2010, Weaver was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.^[10] Shortly thereafter, he came out of retirement to make an uncredited cameo inThis Must Be the Place (2011), voicing the deceased father ofSean Penn's protagonist. He went on to give prominent supporting performances in theEmmy-nominated television filmMuhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013) and the theatrically releasedWe'll Never Have Paris (2014),The Cobbler (2014), andThe Congressman (2016).

His brother was the illustrator Robert Weaver, and his younger sister was art directorMary Dodson.^[11] Via his sister, he was the brother-in-law to actorJack Dodson.

Weaver was married twice. His first marriage, to actress Sylvia Short, lasted from 1953 to 1979, and ended in divorce. His second marriage, to actressRochelle Oliver, lasted from 1997 until his death in 2016. He had two children from his first marriage, Lydia and Anthony.

Fritz Weaver died at his home in New York City on November 26, 2016, at age 90.^[5]

• Fritz Weaver atIMDb
• Fritz Weaver at theInternet Broadway Database
• Fritz Weaver at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• Fritz WeaverArchived 2016-11-29 at theWayback Machine at Aveleyman

• 1926 births
• 2016 deaths
• American male stage actors
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• American male musical theatre actors
• Tony Award winners
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• Male actors from Pittsburgh
• American conscientious objectors
• Members of the Civilian Public Service
• American people of Italian descent
• American male Shakespearean actors

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