Silvers began entertaining at the age of 11, when he would sing in theaters when the
film projector broke (a common occurrence in those days), to the point where he was allowed to keep attending the same movie theater free of charge, to sing through any future breakdowns. By age 13, he was working as a singer in the
Gus Edwards Revue. Subsequently, he worked in
vaudeville and as a
burlesque comic. Like many New York-based actors, Phil Silvers found work at
Warner Bros.'
Vitaphone studio in
Brooklyn. His first job was an incidental role in the
Jack Haley short
Success (1931). He returned to Vitaphone in 1937 to make additional shorts, such as
Ups and Downs (1937) and
The Candid Kid (1938). He made his
Broadway début in
Yokel Boy in 1939. Critics raved about Silvers, who was hailed as the bright spot in the mediocre play. The Broadway revue
High Kickers (1941) was based on his concept. He made his feature-film début in
Hit Parade of 1941 in 1940 (his previous appearance as a 'pitch man' in
Strike Up the Band was cut). Over the next two decades, he worked as a
character actor for
Warner Bros.,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Columbia, and
20th Century Fox, in such films as
All Through the Night (1942) with
Humphrey Bogart. Around the same time, he played a scene with
W. C. Fields in
Tales of Manhattan (also 1942) which was cut from the original release, but restored decades later in home video issues. Silvers also appeared in
Lady Be Good (1941),
Coney Island (1943),
Cover Girl (1944), with
Gene Kelly and
Rita Hayworth, and in
Summer Stock (1950) with Kelly and
Judy Garland. When the studio system began to decline, he returned to the stage. Silvers wrote the lyrics for
Frank Sinatra's "
Nancy (with the Laughing Face)". Although he was not a songwriter, he wrote the lyrics while visiting composer
Jimmy Van Heusen. The two composed the song for Van Heusen's writing partner
Johnny Burke, for his wife Bessie's birthday. Substituting Sinatra's little daughter's name
Nancy at her birthday party, the trio pressed the singer to record it himself. The song became a popular hit in 1945 and was a staple in Sinatra's live performances. Toward the end of
World War II, Silvers entertained the troops during several successful overseas
USO tours with Sinatra.
The Phil Silvers Show Silvers became a household name in 1955 when he starred as Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko in ''You'll Never Get Rich
, later retitled The Phil Silvers Show''. The military comedy became a television hit, with the opportunistic Bilko fast-talking his way through one obstacle after another. In 1958, CBS switched the show to be telecast on Friday nights and moved the setting to Camp Fremont in California. A year later, the show was off the schedule, but it was no fault of the program; Silvers decided to end the series while it was at its height.< In the 1963–1964 television season, he appeared as Harry Grafton, a factory foreman interested in get-rich-quick schemes, much like the previous Bilko character, in CBS's 30-episode
The New Phil Silvers Show, with co-stars
Stafford Repp,
Herbie Faye,
Buddy Lester,
Elena Verdugo as his sister, Audrey, and her children, played by
Ronnie Dapo and
Sandy Descher.
Film roles '' (1963) Throughout the 1960s, he appeared in films such as ''
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and 40 Pounds of Trouble (1963). According to the documentary on the DVD of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'', Silvers was not a traditional comedian: he was a comic actor. He never did stand-up, and, out of character, was not known for cracking jokes. He was featured in the unfinished ''
Something's Got to Give (1962) with Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin. In 1967, he starred as a guest in one of the British Carry On films, Follow That Camel'', a
Foreign Legion parody in which he played a variation of the Sergeant Bilko character, Sergeant Nocker. Producer
Peter Rogers employed him to ensure the Carry On films' success in America, though Silvers's presence did not ensure the film's success on either side of the Atlantic. His salary was £30,000, the largest Carry On salary ever, only later met by the appearance of
Elke Sommer in
Carry On Behind.
Broadway When Silvers played the quintessential con-man Harrison Floy in the 1947 Broadway production of
High Button Shoes, Brooks Atkinson praised him as "an uproarious comic. He has the speed, the drollery and the shell-game style of a honky-tonk buffoon." Silvers later scored a major triumph in
Top Banana, a Broadway show of 1952. Silvers played Jerry Biffle, the egocentric, always-busy star of a major television show. (The character is said to have been based on
Milton Berle.) Silvers dominated the show and won a
Tony Award for his performance. He repeated the role in
the 1954 film version which was initially released in
3-D. Silvers was offered the leading role of conniving Roman slave Pseudolus in the Broadway musical comedy
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Silvers declined, and the role went instead to
Zero Mostel, who was so successful in the role that he repeated the role in the 1966 film version. The revival was a hit and Silvers became the first leading actor ever to win a Tony Award in a revival of a musical.
Later career Later in his career, Silvers guest-starred on
The Beverly Hillbillies, and various TV variety shows such as
The Carol Burnett Show, ''
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Dean Martin Show. He appeared as curmudgeonly Hollywood producer Harold Hecuba in the classic 1966 episode "The Producer" on Gilligan's Island, where he and the castaways performed a musical version of Hamlet''. (Silvers's production company Gladasya – named after his
catchphrase "Gladdaseeya!" – financed the show.) He continued to make guest appearances in television sitcoms including,
The Love Boat,
Fantasy Island,
Happy Days, and his final screen credit
CHiPs in 1983. He also starred in various television specials and talk shows such as
The Bob Hope Special,
The Jackie Gleason Show,
The Merv Griffin Show,
The Dick Cavett Show,
The David Frost Show,
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and
The Mike Douglas Show. In 1980, Silvers participated in ''The Friar's Club Tribute to
Milton Berle'' alongside
Don Rickles,
Dick Shawn,
Walter Matthau,
Jack Lemmon,
George Burns,
Karl Malden, and
Robert Culp. ==Personal life==