Posted: Tue 29 Mar 2005 23:56 Post subject: Frank Silvera
Frank Silvera was an enigma. The son of Jamiacan mulatto immigrants, he privately identified with the "Negro" upper crust while publicly maintaining a Hollywood career playing Latinos and Southern Europeans (Portuguese, Italians, Greeks). By "soul patrol" standards, that's "passing." His acting career reminds me of Anthony Quinn's. I often wondered about the strangely dark man who played the father of so many fair-skinned "whites." I never heard of him being associated with blacks until his death, and even then the wording was carefully phrased. I certainly never heard of him being called a "black" actor.
Almost no one in the audience realized that he was black, when Frank Silvera, played the Italian father of characters portrayed by Ben Gazzara and Anthony Franciosa, in the Broadway hit play, "A Hatful Of Rain." Actress, Shelley Winters, who also appeared in that production, most certainly knew, as did Harry Guardino and Henry Silva. And Steve McQueen, who was an understudy actor in the production and it had been rumored that Frank helped to save his job during a dispute backstage.
Actors, Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, Estelle Parsons, Geraldine Page, Lou Gilbert, Rip Torn, Paul Newman, Lonny Chapman, Lee Grant, Jimmy Dean, along with directors, Elia Kazan, Arthur Penn, Lee Strausberg, Anna Strausberg, and the vast majority of the Actors' Studio members, all knew very well. However, they did not tell, or it did not matter to them that he was, racially, but more importantly, who he was, and that he could play practically, any role or character given to him. As he did so, powerfully in playwright, Tennessee Williams' s classic play, "Camino Real." Clad in a white suit and with a big cigar in the play, Silvera portrayed the South American mystery character of the Williams play, without question, that he was whatever he said and appeared to be in the human color spectrum, as seen through the magic of the theatre.
Posted: Wed 30 Mar 2005 13:49 Post subject: Re: Frank Silvera
Powell wrote:
Frank Silvera was an enigma. The son of Jamiacan mulatto immigrants, he privately identified with the "Negro" upper crust while publicly maintaining a Hollywood career playing Latinos and Southern Europeans (Portuguese, Italians, Greeks). By "soul patrol" standards, that's "passing." His acting career reminds me of Anthony Quinn's. I often wondered about the strangely dark man who played the father of so many fair-skinned "whites." I never heard of him being associated with blacks until his death, and even then the wording was carefully phrased. I certainly never heard of him being called a "black" actor.
Yeah I remember him from the movie Hombre with Paul Newman, which I saw on T.V. as a child. He played a Mexican. I remember my mother telling me he was Jamaican and noone really knew he was "colored".
Most people in Jamaica with Portuguese last names like his are similar in appearance or even lighter. In fact, most Jamaican Silveras I've come across, including a friend of mine, are mulatto in appearance or even white. A lot of these people are descended from Portuguese Jews or Portuguese indentured servants brought to Jamaica after slavery.
Given the time of his birth, I seriously doubt his parents identified as Negros or whatever the terminology was back then. Perhaps he did identify as such because he felt he had no choice. Maybe the choice was made for him by others, or in private he may have embraced a mixed identity.
I know many people from the non-Spanish-speaking Caribbean who are not black in their own countries and have difficulty adjusting to the way we look at race here. Many publicly claim to be black after a few years living here, but privately-when they are around others from the Caribbean like themselves-do not identify as such.
Posted: Thu 31 Mar 2005 17:19 Post subject: Frank Silvera
Silvera played some major non-black roles. He was the Mexican dicatator Huerta in Viva Zapata! and the Mexican father of the fair-skinned Linda Cristal and Henry Darrow (alias Puerto Rican Enrique Delgado) on the TV Western High Chapparel. He also played a Greek father of fair-skinned offspring in a Marcus Welby episode.
'
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in
