Beloved Bay Area character actor was also high school drama teacher
George Ward, a fatherly character actor on professional stages from San Jose to San Francisco who had a wider impact as a longtime high school drama teacher and mentor, died Sunday, Aug. 2, at his home in Redwood City.
The cause of death was cancer and renal failure, said his daughter Jennifer Ward of Berkeley. He was 87.
As an actor, Ward’s main stage was TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, where he had lead roles in some 20 productions over a span of 25 years. His expressive face and perfect ear for dialect were suited to the American classics. Most memorable were his portrayals of Mr. Antrobus in “The Skin of Our Teeth” (1993), Sheridan Whiteside in “The Man Who Came to Dinner” (1995), Grandpa in “You Can’t Take it With You” (1999), Norman Thayer in “On Golden
Pond” (2002) and Mr. Woodhouse in “Emma” (2007).
“He was a beloved audience favorite,” said TheatreWorks founder Robert Kelley in a note sent to the TheatreWorks family. “I know many of you shared in the joy of George’s work. He was a great friend, a great man and a great artist.”
Ward was a fatherly character actor most known for his roles at Theatreworks Silicon Valley in Palo Alto and as a
theater teacher at Woodside High School. He retired from teaching in 1992.
As a teacher, Ward’s main stage was room B15, up in the far corner of campus at Woodside High School. In a 31year career, Ward turned a classroom outfitted with a small proscenium stage into his own trade school in all aspects of the dramatic arts and theater production.
“Watching George ‘put the show together’ — from the selection of the play or musical, to the casting, rehearsals, building the sets and costumes and, finally, to selling the tickets, made me realize my proper place in show business,'' said Charles Duggan, a Woodside High graduate who went on to become the longtime producer at the Marines Memorial Theater and brought the hit “Greater Tuna” to San Francisco.
Among other notables to come through this chronically underfunded public school department are: Sue Murphy, a longtime San Francisco standup comedian turned Emmy awardwinning TV producer in Los Angeles; Sam Pond, a repertory actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Bill Ontiveros, who founded Pioneer Square Theater in Seattle; Tess Ayres, a television and film producer; Paul Voakes, dean emeritus of the journalism school at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Teda Brac
“Watching George ‘put the show together’... made me realize my proper place in show business.”
Charles Duggan, longtime producer at the Marines Memorial Theater
ci, who was in the touring production of “Hair” and performed on the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”; Jim Shelby, theater director at Gunn High School in Palo Alto; and Renel BrooksMoon, public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants.
“George Ward absolutely changed the course of my life,” said Tracy Ward (no relation), who signed up for drama class as a shy sophomore and went on to direct plays at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley among other Bay Area stages.
“He could critique your performance and make you laugh at the same time, not just because he was witty, but because his own joy in the process of creating was irresistible,” said Anne Buelteman, who was in the Broadway touring company of “Les Miserables.” “That joy — that’s why we followed him.”
George Ward (no middle name) was born May 25, 1933 in Detroit, where he grew up as the son of Scottish immigrants. His father, also George Ward, was a butcher who finally got on at the Ford plant when it retooled for the war effort. His mother, Andrewina McLaren, had been a wellknown Highlands dancer who passed along the performance gene.
In the innercity IrishScottish enclave where they lived, it was customary to gather in groups and “sing for your supper.” Ward never minded being called on and parlayed his love for the stage to Louisiana State University, where he became the first in his family to attend college.
Ward staged his first production at Woodside High School in 1962, back when plays were performed in multipurpose rooms with metal folding chairs on a flat linoleum floor. A set had to be built, scaffolding hung for the lighting. It was a major undertaking, and it had to all be taken apart at the end of the fall play and rebuilt for the spring play.
If someone tried out for every play but was too wooden or nervous to go onstage, Ward would figure out a way, even if it meant inserting a oneline part into a classic as if it had been there all along (as he did for this reporter with James Thurber’s “The Male Animal” in 1974).
He took delight in finding a cheerleader or athlete with unknown stage talent. One was Barry Woodruff, a lefthanded starter, who was a firstround draft choice by the Minnesota Twins.
Woodruff didn’t make it to the big leagues, but he found his other talent and became an actor, dancer and choreographer in Los Angeles. After Ward retired from teaching in 1992, Woodruff ended up as the drama teacher and theater director at Woodside High.
“George had a gift for finding what was unique about each kid, and when he directed, he always tried to incorporate that into the role,” said Woodruff. “He was also the most wellread and knowledgeable person about theater I’ve ever met.”
In 2019, Ward was honored again when his students mounted a letterwriting campaign to get Ward named to the Woodside High School Hall of Fame. A special ceremony was attended by 70 former students and theater colleagues who came from Chicago, New York and London. They created and funded the George Ward Drama Scholarship, which awards $2,000 a year.
“George celebrated theater in such a way that I was hooked,” said Sue Murphy, who took time away from showrunning “The Soup” on the E! network to attend the event.
Ward’s marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Ward had lived alone ever since in a mobile home park. A favorite activity among former students was to pile into his living room and read the plays they had performed, from beginning to end.
Once it was “Hay Fever,” and former student Joe Tiffany recalls that as it was being read, Ward was still directing from his chair, and mouthing every word by every character, correcting the parts that were muffed.
“He knew every line, jot and tittle from every play he ever directed,” said Tiffany, now a Menlo Park attorney.
In late May, during shelterinplace, 10 or 15 former students showed up outside Ward’s home to surprise him on his 87th birthday. He could barely make it to the door, which he answered with a typically bemused look on his face and laughed at the attention. Then each guest went inside for a social distance chat, as if they were back in high school trying out for a role.
“His favorite thing was to make people feel special,” said his daughter. “That was his gift.”
A memorial service is pending. Survivors include daughter Jennifer Ward of Berkeley, son Brendan Ward of New York City, and granddaughters Ivy and Clio Galanis of Berkeley. Donations may be made to the George Ward Drama Scholarship Fund at Woodside High School: 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside, CA 94062.