Phil Silvers (May 11, 1912 - November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedy actor.

His best-known work is The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a US Army post in which he played Sergeant Bilko; the show was also often referred to by this name. The show's chief writer, Nat Hiken, was TV's first writer-producer, and Hiken helped set a high comic tone for the show through his inventive plots and snappy comedic repartee for the characters.

The Phil Silvers Show (originally titled You'll Never Get Rich) was a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for a total of 143 episodes (including a 1959 special). The series starred Phil Silvers as the enterprising master sergeant Ernest G. Bilko of the United States Army who spent most of his time trying to wheedle money through various get-rich-quick scams and promotions. The series was created and largely written by Nat Hiken, and won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series. The show is sometimes titled Sergeant Bilko or simply Bilko in reruns, and is very often referred to by these names, both on-screen and by viewers.

The show's success transformed Silvers from a journeyman comedian into a star, and writer-producer Hiken from a highly-regarded behind-the-scenes comedy writer into a publicly recognized creator. Hiken had previously written for Fred Allen and Milton Berle. Ironically, CBS scheduled the first season of Bilko against NBC's Berle; the sitcom's breakout success played a part in ending the reign of Hiken's former employer as "Mr. Television".

The American television business was already moving westward to Los Angeles, but Hiken insisted on filming the series in New York City, believing it to be more conducive to the creativity and humor. Early episodes were filmed at Dumont's television center in New York City (now home to WNYW-5), with later episodes lensed at the CBS "Hi Brown" Studios in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

The series was originally set in Fort Baxter, a sleepy, unremarkable (and non-existent) U.S. Army base in the fictional town of Roseville, Kansas. Bilko's right-hand men were Cpl. Rocco Barbella (Harvey Lembeck) and Cpl. Steve Henshaw (Allan Melvin). The large supporting cast included Herbie Faye (a former burlesque crony of Silvers') as Pvt. Sam Fender, Maurice Gosfield as the slovenly Pvt. Duane Doberman, Joe E. Ross as camp cook Sgt. Rupert Ritzik, Beatrice Pons as loud-mouthed Mrs. Ritzik, Billy Sands as Pvt. Dino Paparelli, Jimmy Little as Sgt. Francis Grover, Mickey Freeman as diminutive Pvt. Fielding Zimmerman, Jack Healy as the tough-talking Pvt. Mullen, Ned Glass as quartermaster Sgt. Andy Pendleton, and former boxer Walter Cartier as botany fiend Pvt. Claude Dillingham. Some episodes gave Bilko a romantic interest (Elizabeth Fraser as Sgt. Joan Hogan). The series frequently featured so many secondary cast members, with so many speaking parts, that the show ultimately became too expensive to sustain. It was this factor, and not any decline in ratings, that led to the show's demise in 1959. As Silvers later recalled, "We went out at our height."

The soldiers regularly helped Bilko with his schemes, but were just as often Bilko's "pigeons" ripe for the plucking. Bilko exhibited an odd paternalism towards his victims, and would doggedly shield them from all outside antagonists. The sergeant's attitude toward his men has been described thus: "They were his men and if anyone was going to take them, it was going to be him and only him". Through it all, the platoon was fiercely loyal to Bilko, and would depend on him to get them out of any military misfortune.

Bilko's swindles were usually directed toward (or behind the back of) Col. John T. Hall (Paul Ford), the overmatched and beleaguered post commander who had early in his career been nicknamed "Melon Head." Despite his flaws and weaknesses, Col. Hall would get the best of Bilko just enough to establish his credentials as a wary and vigilant adversary. The colonel would often be shown looking fretfully out his window, worried without explanation or evidence, simply because he knew that Bilko was out there somewhere, planning something. The colonel's wife, Nell (Hope Sansberry), had only the kindest thoughts toward Bilko, who would shamelessly flatter her whenever he saw her.

The show's setting changed with the fourth season, when the men of Fort Baxter were reassigned to Camp Fremont in California.This mass transfer was explained in storyline as being the inadvertent result of a Bilko con gone wrong. In reality, creator Hiken had departed, and it was an easy excuse to move the production to California and fill the episodes with celebrity guest appearances from nearby Hollywood.

The earlier episodes depicted Ernie Bilko as an easygoing "operator" angered by any injustice to someone he knows. Using guile and mind games against the villains, he steps in to defend the injured party and right the wrong. Later episodes (significantly, by different writers) overlooked Bilko's righteous side, and painted the character as strictly mercenary, willing to swindle anyone for a fast buck.

Most of the series was photographed to simulate a live performance. The actors memorized their lines, as in a play, and performed the scenes in sequence before a studio audience. (This is why there are occasional flubs and awkward pauses among the lesser actors. These flaws are usually very minor, because Phil Silvers's rapid-fire delivery often covered for them and saved the scene.) This method of filming changed when impresario Mike Todd made a guest appearance and refused to memorize the script. He insisted on the episode being filmed like a Hollywood movie, one scene at a time, and out of sequence. Silvers and the crew found that Todd's way was faster, cheaper, and was less demanding for the actors, so the series changed over to this new policy. The finished films were screened for a live audience, whose response was recorded and added to the soundtracks.

Guest stars included Dick Van Dyke, Eric Fleming, Fred Gwynne, Alan Alda, and Paul Lynde, then near the beginning of their careers. Later episodes used a wealth of veteran Hollywood character actors, including Harold Huber, Marjorie Gateson, and Frank Albertson, to name a few.

In the series finale, "Weekend Colonel," Bilko discovers a short-order cook who is the exact double of Colonel Hall. Bilko hires the cook to impersonate the colonel, so he can cheat the other officers in a bogus charity effort. The real Colonel Hall learns of the scam, and Bilko, Henshaw, and Barbella end up being locked away in the guardhouse. As Colonel Hall looks at his prisoners on a newly installed closed-circuit TV system, he quips: "It's a wonderful show, and as long as I'm the sponsor, it will never be cancelled." The camera cuts to Bilko and his henchmen finally behind bars. Bilko waves to the camera and says, "Th-th-that's all, folks!" So ended the series.

Following the show's cancellation, CBS shortsightedly sold the films to NBC, which immediately aired reruns five days a week to great financial returns.

In later years, Silvers frequently played off his durable Bilko persona. In 1963, he starred in The New Phil Silvers Show; the series attempted to transplant his mercenary character to a factory setting, but the result proved unpopular. Silvers frequently appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies as a character called Honest John. He played an unscrupulous Broadway producer on an episode of Gilligan's Island, and in an episode of The Lucy Show, Silvers guest starred as a demanding bank inspector. At one point Lucy's boss, Mr. Mooney, remarks that Silvers reminds him of a sergeant he used to know. Silvers also portrayed greedy connivers in films such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum .

Some of the show's other actors were recruited by "Bilko" producer Edward J. Montagne to appear in the sitcoms, Car 54, Where Are You? and McHale's Navy.

The program, which was filmed in black-and-white, was widely rerun into the 1960s. The advent of color television rendered it and many similar programs less marketable than they had been previously. The series was rerun on Nick at Nite during the 1990s. Its popularity was especially enduring in Britain, where it is still shown occasionally by the BBC. In May 2006, 18 of the show's 143 episodes were compiled into a three DVD 50th anniversary collection.

ratings

1955-1956: #30

1956-1957: #23

1957-1958: not in the top 30

1958-1959: not in the top 30

The Phil Silvers Show was the basis of a critically and commercially unsuccessful 1996 movie, Sgt. Bilko, starring Steve Martin.

Sgt. Ernie Bilko is the ultimate con man. He runs the motor pool at a small Kansas US Army Camp. Colonel Hall, nominally in charge of the base tries to keep Bilko's plans in check. Bilko runs every money making scheme that he thinks he can pull off. Midnight cruises on Landing Craft, Tank Rides, Poker games, and an interesting deal with local service stations for spare parts for jeep tires. Written by John Vogel

A promotional trailer for this series is included as an extra feature on the 50th Anniversary Edition DVD release of "Phil Silvers Show, The" (1955). Sadly, although Silvers introduces his character and the basic premise of the show in a specially-filmed segment, no actual footage from the episodes themselves are included.

Interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA.

He wrote the lyrics to the Jimmy Van Heusen song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" for friend Frank Sinatra's firstborn child Nancy Sinatra (I).

His Gladasya production company co-produced "Gilligan's Island" (1964).

Had 5 daughters with his second wife, Evelyn Patrick: Tracey Silvers (1957), Nancey Silvers, Cathy Silvers, Candace Silvers (1961) and Laury Silvers (1963). Grandfather of Jaclyn Sara Silvers.

Enjoyed a long string of Broadway successes, most notably "High Button Shoes" (1948), "Top Banana" (1951, for which he won a Tony award), "Do-Re-Mi" (1961), "How the Other Half Loves" (1970), and the revival of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1971, and another Tony win).

He was a gambling addict. Once, when complaining about his lack of work and being broke in Los Angeles, he absent-mindedly pulled out a large wad of bills. When asked about why did not live on that money, he replied it did not count because it was only his gambling money.

Daughter Tracey Silvers is a film producer and writer.

Has won two Tony Awards as Best Actor (Musical): in 1952 for "Top Banana," a part that he recreated in the film version of the same name, Top Banana (1954), and in 1972 for a revival of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." He was also nominated in the same category in 1961 for "Do Re Mi."

Father-in-law of writer/director/composer Iren Koster.

Later in life, after having cataract surgery on both eyes and with lenses then implanted in his eyes, he no longer needed eyeglasses. However, he continued to wear them without any glass in them -- just the frames -- because his glasses were, after all, his trademark.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 740-741. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.