Jack Gilford, a sad-eyed comic, dramatic actor and vaudevillian who shone in featured roles on stage, television and movies, died Monday morning, a spokeswoman said. He was 81.
Gilford died after a long struggle with stomach cancer and had last been at a hospital two weeks ago, according to merle Debuskey, a family friend and publicist. He was at his Greenwich Village home with his actress wife, Madeline Lee, when he died about 8 a.m., Debuskey said.Gilford was twice nominated for Tony awards in Broadway musicals - as Hysterium, the slave who ends up in drag in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," and as Herr Shultz in "Cabaret." He was Hysterium again in the movie film version of "Forum."
He received an Academy Award supporting-actor nomination for the movie "Save the Tiger," in which he played the partner to Jack Lemmon's garment manufacturer.