Howard da Silva
Howard da Silva inUnconquered (1947)
Born	Howard Silverblatt (1909-05-04)May 4, 1909 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died	February 16, 1986(1986-02-16) (aged 76) Ossining, New York, U.S.
Occupations	Actor singer
Years active	1930–1984
Spouses	Evelyn Horowitz ​ ​ (m. 1930, divorced)​ Jane Taylor ​ ​ (m. 1941; div. 1948)​ Marjorie Nelson ​ ​ (m. 1950; div. 1961)​ Nancy Nutter ​ (m. 1961)​
Children	5
Signature

Howard da Silva (bornHoward Silverblatt, May 4, 1909 – February 16, 1986) was an American actor, director and musical performer on stage, film, television and radio. He was cast in dozens of productions on the New York stage, appeared in more than two dozen television programs, and acted in more than fifty feature films. Adept at both drama and musicals on the stage, he originated the role of Jud Fry in the original 1943 run of theRodgers and Hammerstein musicalOklahoma!, and also portrayed the prosecuting attorney in the 1957 stage production ofCompulsion. Da Silva was nominated for a 1960Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his work inFiorello!, a musical aboutNew York City mayorLaGuardia.^[1] In 1961, da Silva directedPurlie Victorious, byOssie Davis.

Many of his early feature films were of thenoir genre in which he often played villains, such as Eddie Harwood inThe Blue Dahlia and the sadistic Captain Francis Thompson inTwo Years Before the Mast (both 1946). Da Silva's performances as historic figures are among some of his most notable work: he was Lincoln's brawling friend Jack Armstrong in both play (1939) and film (1940) versions ofAbe Lincoln in Illinois written byRobert Sherwood;Benjamin Franklin in the 1969–1972 stage musical1776 and a reprisal of the role for the 1972film version of the production; Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev inThe Missiles of October (1974);Franklin D. Roosevelt inThe Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977); andLouis B. Mayer inMommie Dearest (1981).

Da Silva's American television character work included the defense attorney representing the robot inThe Outer Limits episode "I, Robot" (1964), and district attorney Anthony Cleese inFor the People (1965). For his performance as Eddie in theGreat Performances production ofVerna: USO Girl (1978), the actor received aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special.^[2]

In the 1970s, da Silva appeared in 26 episodes of the radio series theCBS Radio Mystery Theater.

Da Silva was born inCleveland, Ohio, the son of Bertha (née Sen) and Benjamin Silverblatt, a dress cutter. His parents were both immigrants,Yiddish-speaking Jews born in the Russian Empire. His mother was a women's-rights activist.^[3] Before beginning his acting career on thestage, he was employed as a steelworker.^{[citation needed]}

Da Silva was a graduate of theCarnegie Institute of Technology. He studied acting withEva Le Gallienne beginning in 1928 at theCivic Repertory Theatre.^[3] He changed his surname for acting purposes, adopting the PortugueseDa Silva (his name is sometimes misspelledHoward De Silva).^[4]

Da Silva appeared in a number ofBroadwaymusicals, including the role of Larry Foreman in the legendary first production ofMarc Blitzstein's musicalThe Cradle Will Rock (1938).^[5] Later, he costarred in the original 1943 stage production ofRodgers and Hammerstein'sOklahoma!, playing the role of the psychopathic Jud Fry. He was the easygoing Ben Marino who opposedTammany Hall in the Pulitzer winning musicalFiorello!.

In 1969, da Silva originated the role ofBenjamin Franklin in the musical1776. Four days before the show opened on Broadway, he suffered a minorheart attack but refused to seek medical assistance because he wanted to make sure critics saw his performance. After the four official critic performances were over, the cast left to go to the cast party and da Silva went to the hospital and immediately took a leave of absence from the production.^[6] While da Silva recuperated, his understudy,Rex Everhart, took over the role^[7] and performed on thecast recording. Da Silva was able to reprise his role in the 1972 film version and appeared on that soundtrack album.

Da Silva did summer stock at thePine Brook Country Club, located in the countryside ofNichols, Connecticut, with theGroup Theatre (New York) formed byHarold Clurman,Cheryl Crawford andLee Strasberg in the 1930s and early 1940s.^[8][9]

Da Silva appeared in over 60motion pictures. Some of his memorable roles include a leading mutineer inThe Sea Wolf (1941),Ray Milland's bartender inThe Lost Weekend (1945), and the half-blind criminal "Chicamaw 'One-Eye' Mobley" inThey Live by Night (1949). He also released an album onMonitor Records (MP 595) of political songs and ballads entitledPolitics and Poker.^[10]

Da Silva returned to the stage, and he was nominated for the 1960Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as "Ben Marino" inFiorello! (1959). After being blacklisted, da Silva and Nelson left Los Angeles for New York to perform inThe World of Sholom Aleichem.^[11]

Da Silva was nominated for the BritishBAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actor for his performance as Dr. Swinford inDavid and Lisa (1962).^[12] Da Silva portrayed Soviet Premier Khrushchev in the television docudramaThe Missiles of October (1974). He won theEmmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special for his role as Eddie inVerna: U.S.O. Girl (1978) withSissy Spacek.

Da Silva's TV guest appearances, after the era in which blacklisting was strongest, include such programs asThe Outer Limits,Ben Casey,The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,The Fugitive,Gentle Ben,Mannix,Love, American Style,Kung Fu, andArchie Bunker's Place.

Da Silva also played PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt inThe Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977), Hollywood mogulLouis B. Mayer inMommie Dearest (1981), and American statesmanBenjamin Franklin in both1776 (1972) and a documentary depicting the life of Ben Franklin shown at Franklin's house in Philadelphia, as well as in a television commercial forConsolidated Edison. He appeared in two different film adaptations ofF. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel,The Great Gatsby. In the1949 production withAlan Ladd as Gatsby, da Silva played garage owner George Wilson; in the1974 film withRobert Redford, da Silva was Meyer Wolfsheim, the flamboyant gambler with the interesting cufflinks. In his final appearance on screen, da Silva played a New York photographer fascinated with the reclusiveGreta Garbo in the filmGarbo Talks (1984), directed bySidney Lumet.

He also did voice acting in 26 episodes of the popular 1974–82 radio thriller seriesCBS Radio Mystery Theater (between July 1974 and February 1977).^[13] In 1978, he recorded linking narration for episodes of the Britishtelevision programDoctor Who broadcast in the United States.

Da Silva became one of hundreds of artistsblacklisted in the entertainment industry during theHouse Committee on Unamerican Activities investigation into allegedCommunist influence in the industry. Following his March 1951 testimony, in which he repeatedly invoked hisFifth Amendment rights,^[14] his lead performance in the completed feature filmSlaughter Trail was re-shot with actorBrian Donlevy.^[15] Da Silva continued to find work on the New York stage, but did not work in feature films again until 1961 when he appeared inDavid and Lisa (aBAFTA-nominated performance).^[12][16] He was eventually cleared of any charges in 1960,^[17] but not before his career in television had also stalled, with no work between 1951 and 1959 when he appeared inThe Play of the Week. The brief respite was followed by another television career void until his appearance in a 1963 episode ofThe Defenders. That was the beginning of the end of da Silva's blacklist, and the show's producer Herb Brodkin paired da Silva withWilliam Shatner when he created the television seriesFor the People.^[18]

Da Silva's first wife was Evelyn Horowitz. They were married on August 13, 1930, inManhattan, New York City.^[19]

His second wife was stage actress Jane Louise Taylor, born in 1913 in New York.^[20] They were married in January 1941 inYuma,Arizona, and had one son.^[21][22] They were divorced on July 28, 1948, inLos Angeles,California.^[23]

His third wife was actressMarjorie Nelson; they were married on August 19, 1950, inHollywood, California.^[24][25] Da Silva and Nelson had two daughters and were divorced on May 9, 1961, inJuárez,Mexico.^[26]

His fourth wife was Nancy Nutter; they were married in May or June 1961 inGreenwich, England.^[27]

Da Silva died oflymphoma, aged 76, inOssining, New York.^[3]

Howard da Silva provided linking narration for North American broadcasts ofDoctor Who, providing continuity announcements for episodes from season 12 through season 15, ostensibly to help North American audiences get acclimatized to the nature of serial storytelling, which was then uncommon on non-soap-operatic television in the United States and Canada. His narration accompanied the earliest runs of Doctor Who as broadcast on AmericanPBS stations and Canadian broadcasters likeTVOntario during the 1970s and early 1980s. Typically, afterDoctor Who had been run on a station for a while, the linking narration was removed as unnecessary.^[134] Nevertheless, the announcements were so familiar a part of some viewers' experience ofDoctor Who that they became a standard extra feature on BBC DVD releases of early Tom Baker serials.^[135]

From 1974 to 1977, da Silva was a regular player onCBS Radio Mystery Theater.^[136]

• Buhle, Paul; Wagner, David (2004).Hide in Plain Sight: The Hollywood Blacklistees in Film and Television, 1950–2002. Palgrave Macmilla.ISBN 978-1-4039-6684-1.
• Erickson, Hal (2009).Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows. McFarland.ISBN 978-0-7864-3828-0.
• Frommer, Myrna Katz; Frommer, Harvey (2014).It Happened on Broadway: An Oral History of the Great White Way. Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN 978-1-58979-916-5.
• Gertel, Elliott (2003).Over the Top Judaism: Precedents and Trends in the Depiction of Jewish Beliefs and Observances in Film and Television. University Press of America.ISBN 978-0-7618-2624-8.
• Ghiglione, Loren (2008).CBS's Don Hollenbeck An Honest Reporter in the Age of McCarthyism. Columbia University Press.ISBN 978-0-231-51689-1.
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• Laster, Kathy; Breckweg, Krista; King, John (2000).The Drama of the Courtroom. Federation Press.ISBN 978-1-86287-339-1.
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• Rose, Philip (2004).You Can't Do That on Broadway!: A Raisin in the Sun and Other Theatrical Improbabilities. Limelight Editions.ISBN 978-0-87910-960-8.
• Sainer, Albert (1998).Zero Dances: A Biography of Zero Mostel. Limelight Editions.ISBN 978-0-87910-096-4.
• Shatner, William; Fisher, David (2008).Up Till Now: The Autobiography. St. Martin's Press.ISBN 978-0-312-37265-1.
• Suskin, Steven (2010).Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-531407-6.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related toHoward da Silva.

• Howard da Silva at theInternet Broadway Database
• Howard da Silva atIMDb 
• Howard da Silva atPlaybill Vault
• CBS Radio Mystery Theater at Internet Archive
• Howard da Silva at Film Reference
• Politics and Poker onFolkways Records

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