Biography
Born Jacob Gellman on 25 July 1907 in New York City, Jack Gilford died there on 2 June 1990. Raised in a rough neighborhood, he benefited from the bootlegging income his Romanian mother reportedly earned to keep the household afloat. During the 1930s he performed stand-up comedy in vaudeville houses and Manhattan nightspots. Barney Josephson booked him for the racially integrated Café Society, where Gilford took the stage on opening night, 18 December 1938, alongside pianists Albert Ammons and Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis as well as singer Billie Holiday.
Broadway claimed much of his attention beginning in the early 1940s, when he joined the casts of the revues Meet The People (1940), Alive And Kicking (1950), The World Of Sholom Aleichem (1953) and Once Over Lightly (1955). A handful of screen appearances also occurred in those years, among them Hey, Rookie and The Reckless Age (both 1944) plus Main Street To Broadway (1953). In 1956 the House Un-American Activities Committee blacklisted Gilford and his wife, actress Madeline Lee, because of their political convictions; although film work dried up, he sustained his stage and nightclub engagements.
He returned to Broadway in Once Upon A Mattress (1959) and joined Zero Mostel, a longtime acquaintance, in Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1962). The 1960s brought further opportunities: he recreated his stage role for the 1966 film adaptation of Forum, appeared in John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret on Broadway the same year, and took supporting parts in Enter Laughing and Who’s Minding The Mint? (both 1969). Early in the following decade he joined the 1971 Broadway revival of No, No, Nanette.
Motion pictures occupied most of his time through the 1970s and 1980s, yielding roles in Catch-22 (1970), They Might Be Giants (1971), Save The Tiger (1973)—for which he received an unsuccessful Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor—Harry And Walter Go To New York (1976), Cocoon (1985) and Cocoon: The Return (1988). He stepped away from the screen briefly in 1983 to appear in a Broadway revival of The World Of Sholom Aleichem. American viewers encountered him in occasional sitcom guest spots and in Cracker Jack commercials. With his wife, Zero Mostel and Mostel’s wife Kate, he later co-authored the memoir 170 Years Of Show Business.
Broadway claimed much of his attention beginning in the early 1940s, when he joined the casts of the revues Meet The People (1940), Alive And Kicking (1950), The World Of Sholom Aleichem (1953) and Once Over Lightly (1955). A handful of screen appearances also occurred in those years, among them Hey, Rookie and The Reckless Age (both 1944) plus Main Street To Broadway (1953). In 1956 the House Un-American Activities Committee blacklisted Gilford and his wife, actress Madeline Lee, because of their political convictions; although film work dried up, he sustained his stage and nightclub engagements.
He returned to Broadway in Once Upon A Mattress (1959) and joined Zero Mostel, a longtime acquaintance, in Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1962). The 1960s brought further opportunities: he recreated his stage role for the 1966 film adaptation of Forum, appeared in John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret on Broadway the same year, and took supporting parts in Enter Laughing and Who’s Minding The Mint? (both 1969). Early in the following decade he joined the 1971 Broadway revival of No, No, Nanette.
Motion pictures occupied most of his time through the 1970s and 1980s, yielding roles in Catch-22 (1970), They Might Be Giants (1971), Save The Tiger (1973)—for which he received an unsuccessful Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor—Harry And Walter Go To New York (1976), Cocoon (1985) and Cocoon: The Return (1988). He stepped away from the screen briefly in 1983 to appear in a Broadway revival of The World Of Sholom Aleichem. American viewers encountered him in occasional sitcom guest spots and in Cracker Jack commercials. With his wife, Zero Mostel and Mostel’s wife Kate, he later co-authored the memoir 170 Years Of Show Business.