Tony Award Winning Actor Fritz Weaver Dies at 90

Fritz Weaver, who is best-remembered and the made-for-television movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden. He was also known for his work in science fiction and fantasy, especially in television series and movies like The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The X-Files, The Martian Chronicles and Demon Seed, and his Emmy Award nominated role in 1978 miniseries The Holocaust, passed away at his home in New York City on Saturday. He was 90. No cause of death was immediately available.

Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 19, 1926, the son of Elsa W. (née Stringaro) Weaver and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh with deep American roots. His younger sister was art director Mary Dodson.

Weaver attended the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School at the University of Pittsburgh as a child, followed by Peabody High School. He served in Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during World War II.

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 of The United States Steel Hour. Weaver continued to act in television during the next four decades. He also appeared in the made-for-TV movies The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) and Holocaust (1978), earning an Emmy nomination for the latter; the award went to his co-star Michael Moriarty.

Weaver won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance for the Broadway play Child’s Play (1970). His other Broadway credits included The Chalk Garden (Tony nomination and Theatre World Award win), All American, Baker Street, Absurd Person Singular, Love Letters, and The Crucible. He appeared in the off-Broadway play Burnt Piano for the HB Playwrights Theatre, and with Uta Hagen in a television adaptation of Norman Corwin’s play The World of Carl Sandburg.

Weaver also acted in motion pictures, generally as a supporting player. He appeared in such movies as Fail-Safe (1964), Marathon Man (1976), Black Sunday (1977) and Creepshow (1982), and John McTiernan’s remake of The Thomas Crown Affair (1999). He also had roles in The Day of the Dolphin (1973), Demon Seed (1977), The Big Fix (1978), and Sidney Lumet’s Power (1986).

Beginning in 1995, Weaver worked primarily as a voice actor, providing narration for programs on the History Channel.

In 2010, Weaver was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Personal life and death

Weaver married actress Rochelle Oliver in 1997. He died at his home in Manhattan on November 26, 2016; no cause of death was immediately available. He was survived by his wife, his daughter Lydia Weaver, his son Anthony, and a grandson. His sister Mary Dodson had passed away some nine months prior.