# Jack Gilford
**Jack Gilford** (born Jacob Aaron Gellman; July 25, 1908 – June 4, 1990) was an American actor and comedian whose career ran from vaudeville and nightclub pantomime through Broadway musicals, films, and television. He was twice nominated for [Tony Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-awards), for *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum* (1963) and *Cabaret* (1967), and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for *Save the Tiger* (1973)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318527/bio). His career was interrupted for roughly a decade when he and his wife, the actress Madeline Lee, were blacklisted during the McCarthy era[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_gilford).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | July 25, 1908, New York City; June 4, 1990, New York City, of stomach cancer[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318527/bio) |
| Birth name | Jacob Aaron Gellman; born on Manhattan's Lower East Side, grew up in Brooklyn[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/) |
| Signature style | Rubber-faced pantomime, satire, and impressions developed in 1930s nightclub amateur nights[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_gilford) |
| Blacklist | Subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956; no TV or film work for about ten years[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html) |
| Tony nominations | Best Featured Actor in a Musical, 1963, for *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum*; Best Actor in a Musical, 1967, for *Cabaret*[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jack-gilford-42154) |
| Oscar nomination | Best Supporting Actor for *Save the Tiger* (1973), opposite Jack Lemmon, who won Best Actor[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318527/bio) |
| Television recognition | Daytime Emmy, 1979, for the children's series *Big Blue Marble*; two prime-time Emmy nominations in 1989[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/) • [6](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-gilford) |
## Early life and nightclub career
Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman, the second of three boys, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and grew up in Brooklyn. His father was a furrier, and his Romanian-born mother supported the family as a restaurateur and bootlegger[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). While developing impressions of celebrities and imitations of odd physical phenomena such as "pea soup coming to a furious boil" and "fluorescent light turning on in a dark room," he worked in a pharmacy, where the comedian [Milton Berle](https://www.edgepedia.org/milton-berle) discovered him[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/) • [7](https://archives.nypl.org/the/18367).
His career took off when he won an Amateur Night contest in 1934, and he soon moved into nightclubs doing satire and pantomime[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). At the bohemian Café Society in [Greenwich Village](https://www.edgepedia.org/greenwich-village) in the 1940s he was a regular master of ceremonies, hosting the comedian [Zero Mostel](https://www.edgepedia.org/zero-mostel), a fellow political activist and lifelong friend, the jazz singer [Billie Holiday](https://www.edgepedia.org/billie-holiday), and the pianist Hazel Scott[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). He toured four years with Milton Berle and Ina Ray Hutton and began appearing in Broadway revues in 1939[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html). His first Broadway appearance was in the musical *Meet the People* (1940), and he presented his specialty act on film in the 1944 revue *Hey Rookie*[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/) • [7](https://archives.nypl.org/the/18367).
## The blacklist
In 1956 Gilford was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He denied being a Communist but refused to say whether he had resigned from the party in order to sign an affidavit of non-membership[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html). Both he and Madeline Lee, whom he had married in 1949 after meeting her at a political meeting, were blacklisted, and neither could find work for much of the 1950s[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_gilford) • [7](https://archives.nypl.org/the/18367). The choreographer [Jerome Robbins](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerome-robbins), in his testimony before the committee, named Madeline Lee and Zero Mostel among others, which put them and Gilford on the blacklist[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/).
"One day the phone just stopped ringing and I didn't do TV or films for 10 years," Gilford told the Associated Press[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html). Small Broadway parts and nightclub work carried the family through; Madeline later recalled, "We raised three children on unemployment insurance"[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). Gilford rebuilt his career [Off-Broadway](https://www.edgepedia.org/off-broadway) in *The World of Sholom Aleichem* (1953) and on Broadway in *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1955) and *Romanoff and Juliet* (1957)[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/).
## Broadway
Gilford's Broadway career spanned more than four decades and mixed comedy with straight dramatic roles. In the pantomime role of the mute King Sextimus he appeared with the young [Carol Burnett](https://www.edgepedia.org/carol-burnett) in *Once Upon a Mattress* (1959), a performance repeated in television versions in 1964 and 1972[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). His two Tony nominations came as Hysterium, the slave who ends up in drag, in *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum* (1963), and as Herr Schultz in *Cabaret* (1967 nomination)[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jack-gilford-42154). The song "Meeskite" in *Cabaret* was written for him by [John Kander](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-kander) and Fred Ebb[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318527/bio).
Later Broadway work included starring turns in *Three Men on a Horse* (1969), *No, No, Nanette* (1971), *Sly Fox* (1976), and *The World of Sholom Aleichem* (1982)[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jack-gilford-42154). His work in *Sly Fox* in both Los Angeles and New York was considered some of his finest comedy[7](https://archives.nypl.org/the/18367). An offbeat triumph was the nonsinging part of the drunken jailer Frosch in the [Metropolitan Opera](https://www.edgepedia.org/metropolitan-opera)'s production of *Die Fledermaus*, which he played in the 1950 production and many later ones; by this account he became the first non-singer to play a major speaking role in a Metropolitan Opera production[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html) • [7](https://archives.nypl.org/the/18367).
## Film and television
Gilford returned to film in the 1960s, repeating his role as Hysterium in the 1966 film version of *Forum* and appearing in *Enter Laughing* (1967), *Catch-22* (1970, as Captain "Doc" Daneeka), and *They Might Be Giants* (1971)[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). His Academy Award nomination came for the naive business partner Phil Greene in *Save the Tiger* (1973), opposite [Jack Lemmon](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-lemmon), who won Best Actor for the same film[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318527/bio). Among his thirty-odd film credits were *Harry and Walter Go to New York* (1976), *Wholly Moses* (1980), and the role of the melancholy Bernie Lefkowitz in *Cocoon* (1985) and *Cocoon: The Return* (1988)[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/).
On television he became a familiar comic character actor on dozens of series, including *The Defenders*, *All in the Family*, *Rhoda*, *The Love Boat*, *Taxi*, *Soap*, *Head of the Class*, *thirtysomething*, and *The Golden Girls*[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html) • [3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). He won a Daytime Emmy in 1979 for the children's series *Big Blue Marble*, and in 1989 received prime-time Emmy nominations as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for *The Golden Girls* and in a Drama Series for *thirtysomething*[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/) • [6](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-gilford). A generation of viewers knew him as the rubber-faced pitchman in [Cracker Jack](https://www.edgepedia.org/cracker-jack) commercials, in which he and a group of children fought over the confection, a run of about a dozen years from 1960 to 1972[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318527/bio).
## Later years
In 1978 Gilford and Madeline Lee joined with Zero and Kate Mostel to publish a quadruple autobiography, *One Hundred and Seventy Years in Show Business*[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). In the 1980s he returned to his vaudeville roots with a one-man show performed around the country, seen in Los Angeles in 1987 as *My Life in the Theatre, or How I Became an Overnight Success in 40 Years* and taped for television as *The Very Special Jack Gilford Special*[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html) • [7](https://archives.nypl.org/the/18367).
Gilford fought stomach cancer for three years and died at his home in Greenwich Village on June 4, 1990, at the age of 81, with Madeline Lee at his side[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/) • [8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/06/05/stage-screen-comic-actor-jack-gilford-dies-at-age-81/9b091469-5991-4a39-8f25-fb429dcef6e6/). His wife of forty years survived him until 2008; their children are Lisa, a producer, Joe, a screenwriter and director, and Sam, an artist and archivist[3](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/). Joe Gilford later wrote the play *FINKS*, about his parents' [Red Scare](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-scare) experiences and the blacklisting[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_gilford).
## References
1. [Jack Gilford – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318527/bio)
2. [Jack Gilford, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_gilford)
3. [Jack Gilford, The Official Masterworks Broadway Site](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jack-gilford/)
4. [Jack Gilford, 82; Actor Graced Both Farce and Tragedy, Los Angeles Times (June 5, 1990)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-mn-484-story.html)
5. [Jack Gilford – Broadway Cast & Staff, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jack-gilford-42154)
6. [Jack Gilford, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-gilford)
7. [Jack and Madeline Gilford papers, New York Public Library, Billy Rose Theatre Division](https://archives.nypl.org/the/18367)
8. [Stage, Screen Comic Actor Jack Gilford Dies at Age 81, The Washington Post (June 5, 1990)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/06/05/stage-screen-comic-actor-jack-gilford-dies-at-age-81/9b091469-5991-4a39-8f25-fb429dcef6e6/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames F to G*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license