Frank Silvera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Frank Silvera (July 24, 1914 – June 11, 1970) was an American actor and theatrical director.
Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica the son of a mixed race Jamaican mother, Gertrude Bell and Spanish Jewish father, Alfred Silvera. 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 Green's 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 war's 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 strongly Latin appearance, 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. 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 Killer's Kiss (1955).
Silvera made guest appearances in numerous television series, mainly dramas and westerns, including Studio One in Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bat Masterson, Thriller, Riverboat, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, The Untouchables, and Bonanza. In 1962 he portrayed Dr. Koslenko in The Twilight Zone episode "Person or Persons Unknown", opposite Richard Long. That year, he also played Minarii, a Polynesian man in the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty, again starring Marlon Brando. In 1963, Silvera was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for playing Monsieur Duval in The Lady of the Camellias.
In 1964, Silvera and Vantile 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 producing The Amen Corner by African-American writer James 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.
Silvera was killed on June 11, 1970, after accidentally electrocuting himself while repairing a garbage disposal unit in his kitchen sink.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Frank Silvera, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 19.995 |
Birthday | 1914-07-24 |
Place of Birth | Kingston, British West Indies [now Kingston, Jamaica] |
Also Known As | Frank Alvin Silvera, |
1953
Fear and Desire
5.456/485
After their airplane crashes behind enemy lines, four soldiers must survive and try to find a way back to their battalion. However, when they come acr...
Watch Now
Fear and Desire
1955
Killer's Kiss
6.357/530
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Glo...
Watch Now
Killer's Kiss
1952
Viva Zapata!
6.911/207
The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Díaz in the...
Watch Now
Viva Zapata!
1965
The Greatest Story Ever Told
6.387/177
From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. M...
Watch Now
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1971
Valdez Is Coming
6.2/77
Old Mexican-American sheriff Bob Valdez has always been a haven of sanity in a land of madmen when it came to defending law and order. But the weapon...
Watch Now
Valdez Is Coming
1969
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
5.2/88
In this third remake of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's hugely influential The Seven Samurai, the seven gunslingers (George Kennedy, Mich...
Watch Now
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
1966
The Appaloosa
6.206/63
A man tries to recover a horse stolen from him by a Mexican bandit.
Watch Now
The Appaloosa
1954
The Lonely Night
0/0
After Caroline Cram finds herself in an analyst's office, she starts groping for the truth about her hopelessness, fears, loneliness and anxieties. A...
Watch Now
The Lonely Night
1967
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
6.3/101
Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city's boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as...
Watch Now
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
1960
Heller in Pink Tights
5.7/27
Nineteenth century Wyoming: the wild West. Mild-mannered Tom Healy has a two-wagon theater troupe hounded by creditors because Angela, his leading lad...
Watch Now
Heller in Pink Tights
1952
The Cimarron Kid
6.1/19
Audie Murphy comes into his own as a Western star in this story. Wrongly accused by crooked railroad officials of aiding a train heist by his old frie...
Watch Now
The Cimarron Kid
1953
White Mane
6.686/51
In the south of France, in a vast plain region called the Camargue, lives White Mane, a magnificent stallion and the leader of a herd of wild horses t...
Watch Now
White Mane
1959
Crime and Punishment USA
5.2/5
Believing he can elude justice, a California law student murders an elderly pawnbroker, then matches wits with the detective on the case.
Watch Now
Crime and Punishment USA
1952
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima
5.7/24
In 1917, three shepherd children living just outside Fatima, Portugal have visions of a lovely lady in a cloud. The anticlerical government wishes to...
Watch Now
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima
1960
The Mountain Road
6.3/7
In 1944, in eastern part of China, U.S.Army Major Baldwin and his volunteer team of demolition engineers are left behind the retreating Chinese forces...
Watch Now
The Mountain Road
1968
Uptight
6.5/14
Black militants building up an arsenal of weapons in preparation for a race war are betrayed by one of their own.
Watch Now
Uptight
1963
Toys in the Attic
6/20
Julian Berniers returns from Illinois with his young bride Lily Prine to the family in New Orleans. His spinster sisters Carrie and Anna welcome the c...
Watch Now
Toys in the Attic
1952
The Fighter
6/2
A boxer, in Mexico, sets out to avenge the murder of his family by using the money from his winnings to purchase weapons.
Watch Now
The Fighter
1950
A Visit to Picasso
6/2
In this short 20 minute black and white Belgian documentary, the director, Paul Haesaerts, visualised Pablo Picasso’s flow of imagination when the Spa...
Watch Now
A Visit to Picasso
1960
Key Witness
6.9/4
An average Los Angeles citizen witnesses a gang murder when he stops to use a telephone. When he presents himself to the LAPD as the only person willi...
Watch Now
Key Witness
1956
Crowded Paradise
0/0
A Puerto Rican immigrant anxiously awaits his wedding day, but his fiancé's racist landlord intervenes.
Watch Now
Crowded Paradise
2004
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
0/0
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks is a 2003 documentary about the life of Academy Award nominated actress Beah Richards. Directed by Lisa Gay Hamilton, it wo...
Watch Now
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
1969
Che!
5.2/22
Biography of Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who helped Fidel Castro in his struggle against the corrupt Batista regime, eventually r...
Watch Now
Che!
1955
Death Tide
6/2
A ship with a cargo full of diamonds gets taken over by pirates.
Watch Now
Death Tide
1976
Perilous Voyage
0/0
A South American guerrilla, whose revolution is faltering, hijacks a ship carrying arms and holds all of the passengers hostage.
Watch Now
Perilous Voyage
1968
The Young Loner
0/0
A young migrant worker is injured in an accident and ends up at a ranch to recover. He runs away, but realizes that his heart is not in traveling and...
Watch Now
The Young Loner
1968
The Stalking Moon
5.912/66
While moving a group of Apaches to a Native American reservation in Arizona, an American scout named Sam Varner is surprised to find a white woman, Sa...
Watch Now
The Stalking Moon
1967
Hombre
7.032/206
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when...
Watch Now
Hombre
1962
Mutiny on the Bounty
7/293
The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as...
Watch Now
Mutiny on the Bounty
1971
The Boy from Dead Man's Bayou
0/0
Watch Now