Jack Gilford was born in Brooklyn, New York, as Yankel Gellman. His father was from Bessarabia. Gilford was twice nominated for Tony awards as Hysterium, the slave who ends up in women's clothes in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and sings "I'm Lovely", and as Herr Shultz in "Cabaret". product of the creaking vaudeville houses of the early 1930s, hebecame famous for hisability to shift dramatic gears. His repertoire ranged from animal impressions ("This is an eagle who has just learned his daughter is pregnant") tothe hauntingper- sona of the naive business partner in the film "Save the Tiger", for which he was no- minated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor. Typically, Gilford portrayed the ordinary, common man confounded and even- tuallyoverwhelmed by sophistication or circumstance. He performed as the mute king withCarol Burnett in stage and television versions of "Once Upon a Mattress", and did guest turns on numerous TV comedy and dramatic series, including"The Defenders", "Al in the Family", "Rhoda", "The Love Boat", "Taxi", "Soap", "Head of the Class" and "The Golden Girls". Gilford also was known as atelevision pitchman for Cracker Jack, in which he and a group of children fought over the confection. Asignificant, off-beat triumph was as the drunken jailer, Frosch, in the Metropolitan Opera's production of "Die Fledermaus