Date of Birth : Jul 25th 1908
Academy Award- and Tony Award-nominated, and Daytime Emmy Award-winning American actor on Broadway, films and television. In 1938, Gilford worked as the master of ceremonies in the first downtown New York integrated nightclub, “Cafe Society”. 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.
Gilford won many industry 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 (1973) for his role as Phil Green in Save the Tiger (his co-star Jack Lemmon won for Best Actor).
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