PersonJewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Phil Silvers

American Jewish comic actor, born Fischl Silver, who won the 1952 Tony Award for Top Banana and later became famous as Sergeant Bilko.

United States

Garbo / Chicago / Wikimedia CommonsSourcePublic Domain

Biography

American Jewish comic actor, born Fischl Silver, who won the 1952 Tony Award for Top Banana and later became famous as Sergeant Bilko. In Jewish World Records, Phil Silvers is connected to the record “First Jewish Winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical,” based on the stored achievement of Actor (Musical) — Top Banana, 30 March 1952. Phil Silvers won Actor (Musical) for Top Banana at the 6th Tony Awards on 30 March 1952. Masterworks Broadway states that he was born Fischl Silver, the youngest of eight children in a Russian Jewish family. The Tony Awards official 1952 winners list names Phil Silvers as Actor (Musical) winner for Top Banana. The official Tony category chronology lists Paul Hartman (1948), Ray Bolger (1949), Ezio Pinza (1950) and Robert Alda (1951) before Silvers; JWR found no earlier verified Jewish winner, making Silvers the earliest qualifying recipient.

Records held by Phil Silvers

Publicity portrait of Phil Silvers for Top Banana.

JWR Verified

Awards · Tony AwardsFirst

First Jewish Winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical

Record holder

Phil Silvers

Record value

30 March 1952

American comic actor Phil Silvers holds the record as the first Jewish winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He received the honour on 30 March 1952 at the 6th Tony Awards ceremony in New York City. The award, officially titled "Actor (Musical)", was for his performance in the production Top Banana. Born Fischl Silver, he was the youngest of eight children in a Russian Jewish family.

Country represented: United States
Achievement location: New York, New York, United States
Achievement date: 30 March 1952

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