Today, July 24th, we celebrate the life and times of Frank Alvin Silvera (July 24, 1914 – June 11, 1970); a Jamaican-born African-American character actor and theatrical director. Silvera was known as the man with a thousand faces because of his ability to play a wide array of roles. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Boston, Silvera dropped out of law school in 1934 after winning his first stage role. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was active in numerous stage productions on and off Broadway and appeared in radio shows. Silvera made his film debut in 1952. Over the course of his 36-year career, he was cast in a wide variety of ethnic roles in film and television. Silvera also remained active onstage. Silvera was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award in 1963 for his role in The Lady of the Camellias. He founded The Theatre of Being, a Los Angeles theater for black actors, in 1965. At the time of his death he had a recurring role in the NBC Western series The High Chaparral. Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of a Spanish Jewish father and a mixed-race Jamaican mother. His family emigrated to the United States when he was six-years old, settling in Boston. Silvera became interested in acting and began performing in amateur theatrical groups and at church. He graduated from English High School of Boston, and then studied at Boston University, followed by the Northeastern Law School. Silvera left Northeastern Law School in 1934, when he was cast in Paul Greens production of Roll Sweet Chariot. He next joined the New England Repertory, Theatre where he appeared in productions of MacBeth, Othello, and The Emperor Jones. He also worked at Federal Theatre and with the New Hampshire Repertory Theatre. In 1940, Silvera made his Broadway debut in a small role in Big White Fog. His career was interrupted in 1942, when he enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. He was assigned to Camp Robert Smalls, where he and Owen Dodson were in charge of entertainment. Silvera directed and acted in radio programs and appeared in USO shows. Honorably discharged at the wars end in 1945, he joined the cast of Anna Lucasta and became a member of the Actors Studio. In 1952, Silvera made his film debut in the western, The Cimarron Kid. Because of his light brown complexion, he was cast in a variety of ethnic roles in films and television. He was cast as General Huerta in Viva Zapata!, which starred Marlon Brando. Ironically, it was the first time a major motion picture studio had used a non-white actor to play a non-white character. Silvera also portrayed the role in the stage production, which opened at the Regent Theatre in New York City on February 28, 1952. He appeared in two films directed by Stanley Kubrick, Fear and Desire (1953) and Killers Kiss (1955). In August 1955, he appeared on Broadway in a revival of Thornton Wilders The Skin of Our Teeth, which earned him favorable reviews. In November 1955, he portrayed John Pope, Sr., the Italian father of Ben Gazzara and Anthony Franciosas characters on Broadway in Michael V. Gazzos A Hatful of Rain (a role portrayed by Lloyd Nolan on screen), and again was praised by critics. Frank Silvera died in an accident at home in 1970. At the time, he was playing an important recurring role in the NBC western series The High Chaparral as the Mexican squire, Don Sebastian Montoya. His final film, Valdez Is Coming, was released posthumously, in 1971. Silvera married actress Anna Lillian Quarles in 1942. They met while appearing in a stage production of Stevedore. Quarles was the sister of historian and educator Benjamin Arthur Quarles. They had two children, Frank, Jr. and Linda, before divorcing in 1963. On June 11, 1970, Silvera was accidentally electrocuted at the age of 56 while attempting to repair the garbage disposal unit in his kitchen sink. He was buried with military honors at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 02:46:44 +0000
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