Frank Silvera

Frank Silvera
Born	Frank Alvin Silvera July 24, 1914(1914-07-24) Kingston, Jamaica
Died	June 11, 1970(1970-06-11) (aged 55) Pasadena, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Accidental electrocution
Resting place	Long Island National Cemetery
Education	English High School of Boston
Alma mater	Northeastern University School of Law
Occupation	Actor, theatrical director
Known for	The Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Foundation
Spouse	Anna Lillian Quarles (1942–1963)

Frank Alvin Silvera (July 24, 1914 – June 11, 1970) was an American actor and theatrical director.

Career

Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica to a Spanish Jewish father and Jamaican mother. His family later emigrated to the United States, settling in Boston where Silvera attended English High School and Northeastern Law School. Silvera later studied acting at the Actors Studio.

Due to his light complexion, Silvera was cast in a wide variety of ethnic roles in films, and was cast without regards to his color in the theater. He played the father of Ben Gazzara and Anthony Franciosa on Broadway in Michael V. Gazzo's A Hatful of Rain (a role portrayed by Lloyd Nolan on screen). Until the 1960s, Silvera played "white" characters on Broadway, such as his Tony-nominated performance as the father Monsieur Duval in The Lady of the Camellias in 1963. He threw off color-blind casting in 1965, when he financed his own production of The Amen Corner by the African American writer James Baldwin. He was the Founder of The Theatre of Being, a Los Angeles-based theater dedicated to helping black actors get a foothold in show business.

In films and on television, he was also cast without regards to his color, though mostly as Latinos, even appearing as a Polynesian in the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando, with whom Silvera co-starred in Viva Zapata!, One-Eyed Jacks and The Appaloosa as Mexican characters. He appeared in two Stanley Kubrick-directed films, Fear and Desire (1953) and Killer's Kiss (1955) as either "white" or racially indeterminate. He also appeared as a Mexican bandit in the 1967 Martin Ritt Western classic, Hombre, based on the Elmore Leonard novel.

At a lecture at the University of Maryland, while appearing in a production of King Lear, he told of his attempt to get a part in a TV drama as a black elevator operator. The producer rejected him as being too light-skinned. He left the producer's office, then returned. "Am I light enough to play one of the white parts?" He got the job.

Death

On June 11, 1970, Silvera was electrocuted while attempting to repair the garbage disposal unit in his kitchen sink. A Navy veteran of World War II, Silvera was buried with honors at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York.

At the time of his death, he was appearing on the NBC western series The High Chaparral as the Mexican squire, Don Sebastian Montoya.

The Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Foundation

Before his death, Silvera was actively engaged in the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s and called on all of his associates in the theater and film world to support the efforts of Black Americans during this watershed in American history. In 1973 Morgan Freeman, director/actress Billie Allen, and journalist Clayton Riley honored Silvera and his efforts to support African American actors and playwrights by co-founding the Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop Foundation, Inc.

The organization still sponsors promising African American playwrights. In 2005 the workshop was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	The Cimarron Kid	Stacey Marshall
1952	Viva Zapata!	Victoriano Huerta
1953	White Mane	Narrator
1954	The Marriage	Mr. Ramon	Episode #1.1
1955	Death Tide	Eric Paulsen
1956	Crowded Paradise	Papa Diaz
1957	The Seven Lively Arts	John	Episode: "The World of Nick Adams"
1958	Playhouse 90	Nick Serrello	Episode: "Seven Against the Wall"
1958	Perry Mason	Jonathan Hyett	Episode: "The Case of the Fancy Figures"
1959	The Lineup	Papa Vanetti	Episode: "My Son is a Stranger"
1959	The Man From Blackhawk	Kiczek	Episode: "The Gypsy Story"
1960	Heller in Pink Tights	Santis
1960	The Law and Mr. Jones	Garcia	Episode: "Music to Hurt By"
1962	The Twilight Zone	Dr. Koslenko	Episode: "Person or Persons Unknown"
1962	The New Breed	John Hernandez	Episode: "My Brother's Keeper"
1963	The Defenders	Ballin	Episode: "The Last Illusion"
1963	Toys in the Attic	Henry Simpson
1964	The Great Adventure	Gambi	Episode: "The Pirate and the Patriot"
1964	Mr. Novak	Andy Towner	Episode: "Boy Under Glass"
1965	The Greatest Story Ever Told	Caspar
1965	Rawhide	Pajarito	Episode: "El Hombre Bravo"
1966	I Spy	Munoz	Episode: "Crusade to Limbo"
1966	Run for Your Life	Esteban	Episode: "The Shock of Recognition"
1967	The St. Valentine's Day Massacre	Nick Sorello
1967	Dundee and the Culhane	Luis Montoya	Episode: "The Vasquez Brief"
1967 to 1970	The High Chaparral	Don Sebastian Montoya	14 episodes
1968	The Stalking Moon	Major
1968	Up Tight!	Kyle
1969	Che!	Goatherd
1969	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Nick Eugenides	Episode: "The Vrahnas Demon"
1970	The Flying Nun	Thomas Sebastien Martinez	Episode: "No Tears for Mrs. Thomas"
1970	Hawaii Five-O	Frank Kuakua	Episode: "Paniolo"
1971	Valdez Is Coming	Diego

External links

• Frank Silvera at the Internet Movie Database
• Frank Silvera biography at the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Foundation, Inc.
• Frank Silvera at Find a Grave