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Information about Jack Gilford

Jack Gilford

Jack Gilford
BornJuly 25, 1908
New York, New York
DiedJune 2, 1990
New York, New York
Jack Gilford (July 25, 1908 – June 2, 1990) was an American actor on Broadway, films and television.

Biography

Early life

Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman on the lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His parents were Romanian-born Jewish immigrants Sophie ("Susksa") Jackness, who owned a restaurant and was also a bootlegger, and Aaron Gellman, a furrier.[1] Gilford was the second of three sons, with an older brother Murray ("Moisha") and a younger brother Nathaniel ("Natie").

Gilford was discovered working in a pharmacy by his mentor Milton Berle. While working in amateur theater, he competed with other talented youngsters, including a young Jackie Gleason. He started doing imitations and impersonations. His first appearance on film was a short entitled Midnight Melodies where he did his imitations of George Jessel, Rudy Vallee and Harry Langdon. He developed some unique impressions that became his trademarks — most notably, one of "split pea soup coming to a furious boil" using only his face. Other unusual impressions he created were a fluorescent light going on in a dark room, John D. Rockefeller Sr. imitating Jimmy Durante, and impressions of animals.

Career

In 1938, Gilford worked as the MC in the first downtown New York integrated nightclub, "Cafe Society". He created original spoofs on movies — in one of them, he coined the now-common phrase "The butler did it". He was a unique blend of the earlier style of the Yiddish theater, Vaudeville and Burlesque and started the tradition of Monology such as later comedians Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen used.

One of Gilford's specialties was pantomime, and this talent was put to good use by director George Abbott when he cast Gilford as the silent King Sextimus in Once upon a Mattress (Off-Broadway, 1959). Gilford shared the stage with a young Carol Burnett in this production, and reprised his performance with her in two separate televised versions of the show, in 1964 and in 1972.

His talent for pantomime was also employed to a great extent in the ten years Gilford was the face of the Cracker Jack TV commercials. The most memorable of these commercials featured Gilford walking through the sleeping car of a train when he discovers two passengers passing a box of Cracker Jack back and forth between their sleeping compartments and decides to surreptitiously intercept.

Gilford won many awards. He was nominated for several Tony awards for best supporting actor as Hysterium in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963), and for his role as Herr Schultz in Cabaret (1966). He was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor in (1972) for his role as Phil Green in Save the Tiger (his co-star Jack Lemmon won for Best Actor).

Gilford's career was derailed for a time. He believed deeply in social change in the United States, integration and Unions. He was quite active both socially and politically. He had to pay a price for this as many who were ruined by the 1950s political "witch hunt" of Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee along with the Hollywood blacklist. But he managed to become successful mostly through roles on the Broadway stage, such as Drink To Me Only, Romanoff and Juliet, and The Diary of Anne Frank.

Some of Gilford's most memorable work was done for series television, where he made numerous guest appearances. Some notable examples: Gilford and his wife, Madeline Lee, created a Jack Gilford Special in 1981 for Canadian cable CBS. At this time after forty years of night club performing, Gilford started to perform his one man shows in the 1980s. This included appearances at the Paramount Theater in Denver, as well as Town Hall NYC. He went on to became a highly recognizable and loved comedic, serious and character actor.

One of his last performances was on the ABC TV series thirtysomething.

Personal life

Gilford met actress (and later producer) Madeline Lee at political meetings in 1947. They were married and were partners for forty years. He and Lee raised three children: Lisa Gilford (from Madeline's previous marriage), now a producer; Joseph Edward Gilford, a screenwriter, playwright and director; and Sam Max Gilford, an artist and archivist.

At the age of 81, after a three-year battle with stomach cancer, he died peacefully in his Greenwich Village home in Manhattan in 1990.

Broadway stage appearances

Filmography

Year Film Role
1944Hey, RookieSpecialty
1944Reckless AgeJoey Bagle
1959TV: The World of Sholem AliechemBontshe Shveig
1963TV: Cowboy and the TigerTiger
1964TV: Once Upon a MattressKing Sextimus
1966The DaydreamerPapa Andersen
1966Mister BuddwingMr. Schwartz
1966A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the ForumHysterium
1967Enter LaughingMr. Foreman
1967Who's Minding the Mint?Avery Dugan
1967The IncidentSam Beckerman
1969TV: Arsenic and Old LaceDr. Jonas Salk
1970Catch-22"Doc" Daneeka
1971They Might Be GiantsWilbur Peabody
1972TV: Of Thee I SingVice President Throttlebottom
1972TV: Once Upon a MattressKing Sextimus
1973Save the TigerPhil Greene
1976Tubby the Tubavoice: The Herald
1976Short: MaxMax
1976Harry and Walter Go to New YorkMischa
1977The Doonesbury Specialvoice
1980Cheaper to Keep HerStanley Bracken
1980Wholly MosesTailor
1981TV: Goldie and the Boxer Go to HollywoodWally
1981CavemanGog
1983Anna to the Infinite PowerDr. Henry Jelliff
1983TV: HappyBernie Nelson
1985CocoonBernard 'Bernie' Lefkowitz
1985TV: Hostage FlightMr. Singer
1986TV: Young AgainThe Angel
1988Arthur 2: On the RocksMr. Butterworth
1988Bernard 'Bernie' Lefkowitz

References

1. ^ [1]

External links

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Milton Berle

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John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy.
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Jimmy Durante

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