Frank Silvera
Silvera inKiller's Kiss (1955)
Born	Frank Alvin Silvera (1914-07-24)July 24, 1914 Kingston, British Jamaica
Died	June 11, 1970(1970-06-11) (aged 55) Pasadena, California, U.S.
Resting place	Long Island National Cemetery
Alma mater	Boston University Northeastern University School of Law
Occupation(s)	Actor, theatrical director
Years active	1934–1970
Spouse	Anna Lillian Quarles ​ ​ (m. 1942; div. 1963)​
Children	2

Frank Alvin Silvera (July 24, 1914 – June 11, 1970) was a Jamaican-born Americancharacter actor and theatrical director.^[1]

Born inKingston, Jamaica and raised inBoston, 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 offBroadway 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 in theatre. Silvera was nominated for aBest Actor Tony Award in 1963 for his role inThe Lady of the Camellias. He founded the Theatre of Being, a Los Angeles theatre for black actors, in 1965. At the time of his death he had a recurring role in theNBCWestern seriesThe High Chaparral.

Silvera was born inKingston, Jamaica, the son of a mixed-race Jamaican mother, Gertrude Bell andPortuguese Jewish father, Alfred Silvera.^[2][3] His family emigrated to the United States when he was six years old, settling inBoston.^[4] Silvera became interested in acting and began performing in amateur theatrical groups and at church.^[1]

He graduated fromEnglish High School of Boston and then studied atBoston University, followed by theNortheastern Law School.^[3][4][5]

Silvera left Northeastern University Law School in 1934, when he was cast inPaul Green's production ofRoll Sweet Chariot. He next joined the New England Repertory Theatre where he appeared in productions ofMacBeth,Othello andThe Emperor Jones. He also worked atFederal Theatre and with the New Hampshire Repertory Theatre. In 1940, Silvera made hisBroadway debut in a small role inBig White Fog. His career was interrupted in 1942, when he enlisted in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. He was assigned toCamp Robert Smalls, where he andOwen Dodson were in charge of entertainment. Silvera directed and acted in radio programs and appeared inUSO shows.Honorably discharged at the war's end in 1945, he joined the cast ofAnna Lucasta and became a member of theActors Studio.^[1][5][6]

In 1952, Silvera made his film debut in the western,The Cimarron Kid. Because of his strongly Latin appearance, he was cast in a variety of ethnic roles in films and television.^[3] He was cast asGeneral Huerta inViva Zapata! which starredMarlon Brando. Silvera also portrayed the role in the stage production, which opened at the Regent Theatre inNew York City on February 28, 1952.^[6] He appeared in two films directed byStanley Kubrick,Fear and Desire (1953) andKiller's Kiss (1955).

In August 1955, he appeared on Broadway in a revival ofThornton Wilder'sThe Skin of Our Teeth, which earned him favorable reviews. In November 1955, he portrayed John Pope Sr., the Italian father ofBen Gazzara andAnthony Franciosa's characters on Broadway inMichael V. Gazzo'sA Hatful of Rain (a role portrayed byLloyd Nolan on-screen), and again was praised by critics.^[7]

Silvera made guest appearances in numeroustelevision series, mainly dramas andwesterns, includingStudio One in Hollywood,Alfred Hitchcock Presents,Bat Masterson,Thriller,Riverboat,The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters,The Untouchables,Gunsmoke,Perry Mason andBonanza. In 1962 he portrayed Dr. Koslenko inThe Twilight Zone episode "Person or Persons Unknown", oppositeRichard Long. That year, he also played Minarii, a Polynesian man in the 1962 filmMutiny on the Bounty, again starringMarlon Brando. In 1963, he starred with Dean Martin in the movieToys in the Attic. Silvera was nominated for aTony Award for Best Actor in a Play for playing Monsieur Duval inThe Lady of the Camellias.

In 1964, Silvera andVantile Whitfield founded the Theatre of Being, a Los Angeles-based theatre dedicated to providing black actors with non-stereotypical roles. One of their first projects was producingThe Amen Corner by African-American writerJames Baldwin. Silvera and Whitfield financed the play themselves and with donations from friends. It opened on March 4, 1964, and would gross $200,000 within the year, moving to Broadway in April 1965.Beah Richards won critical acclaim for her performance as the lead.^[8]

Silvera continued his career in films and guest star roles on television. In 1965, he appeared asGaspar, one of theBiblical Magi in theepic filmThe Greatest Story Ever Told, In 1966, he teamed with Marlon Brando for the third time in the WesternThe Appaloosa. The next year, he portrayed Nick Sorella inThe St. Valentine's Day Massacre, followed by guest roles onDundee and the Culhane andThe Wild Wild West. He appeared as a Mexican bandit inMartin Ritt’s 1967 Western classic,Hombre, based on theElmore Leonard novel. In 1969, Silvera had a supporting role as Goatherd inChe!, and as Lobero in theZapata WesternGuns of the Magnificent Seven.

Silvera was then hired as the firstguest director atFresno State College, with plans to stage a production ofThe Tea Concession byHenry Kemp-Blair, which reversed the racial positions of black and white in a drama aboutSouth Africa.^[9] However, he was forced to resign less than two weeks later, caught in the middle of administrative shakeups and the aborted hiring ofMarvin X by the Black Studies department. "With this upheaval it seemed to blacks and browns that Silvera was part of the package, part of the hardline takeover (at Fresno State College). There was such a sense of despair and betrayal...they took it out on me," Silvera said to David Hale, theater writer forThe Fresno Bee. "It seemed to me they thought I was the agent to smooth things over while the establishment hatched up something else dirty."^[10]

At the time of his death, Silvera had a recurring role in theNBCwestern seriesThe High Chaparral as theMexican rancher, 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 ofStevedore. Quarles was the sister of historian and educatorBenjamin Arthur Quarles. They had two children, Frank Jr. and Linda, before divorcing in 1963.^[1][5][11]

Silvera was killed on June 11, 1970, after accidentally electrocuting himself while repairing agarbage disposal unit in his kitchen sink.^[4][12] He was 55.

In 1973, the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Foundation, Inc. was created in honor of Silvera and his efforts to support black-American actors and playwrights.The organization sponsors promising African-American playwrights. In 2005, the workshop was among 406New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from theCarnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor,Michael Bloomberg.^[13]

• Frank Silvera at theInternet Broadway Database
• Frank Silvera at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• Frank Silvera atIMDb
• Frank Silvera at theTCM Movie Database
• Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Foundation, Inc.

• 1914 births
• 1970 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• Accidental deaths by electrocution
• Accidental deaths in California
• American actors of Jamaican descent
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• Boston University alumni
• Burials at Long Island National Cemetery
• English High School of Boston alumni
• Jamaican emigrants to the United States
• Male Western (genre) film actors
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• Military personnel from Massachusetts
• Northeastern University School of Law alumni
• Male actors from Kingston, Jamaica
• United States Navy officers
• United States Navy personnel of World War II
• Federal Theatre Project people
• American people of Portuguese descent

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