Frank Silva

Frank Silva
Silva at the Twin Peaks Fan Festival in 1993
Born
Frank A. Silva

(1950-10-31)October 31, 1950
Sacramento, California, U.S.
DiedSeptember 13, 1995(1995-09-13) (aged 44)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, set dresser

Frank A. Silva (October 31, 1950 – September 13, 1995) was an American set dresser and occasional actor best known for his performance as the evil spirit Bob in the TV series Twin Peaks.[1]

Silva had a degree in lighting design from San Francisco State University and worked as a prop master and set decorator on several films including David Lynch's Dune and Wild at Heart.[1]

Silva worked on Lynch's Twin Peaks. According to David Lynch on the 2007 Gold Edition DVD release of Twin Peaks, Lynch was upstairs in the Laura Palmer house, near Silva as he worked, and suddenly realized that Silva might have a place in the show. He asked Silva if he was an actor, and Silva said that he was. Lynch then shot a scene where Silva was crouched at the foot of Laura Palmer's bed, staring at the camera, with no idea of where it would fit into the film. Later, while shooting a scene where Laura's mother is remembering a traumatic event, camera operator Sean Doyle told Lynch they'd have to repeat the scene because a crew member had accidentally been caught in a reflection. Lynch asked who, and Doyle told him it was Silva. Seeing this as a sign, Lynch decided to keep the shot as it was.[2] Thus was born the character of BOB, a dark spirit who haunts Laura. Silva appeared occasionally as BOB for the remainder of the Twin Peaks series and in the 1992 movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. His first major appearance was in the International Version of the Twin Peaks pilot, which contained a standalone ending that resolved the mystery of the series and incorporated the accidental footage.

Silva appears in the Anthrax video "Only".[3]

Frank Silva died on September 13, 1995, aged 44 from AIDS-related complications.[4] The second episode of the revived Twin Peaks was dedicated to Silva, and he appeared throughout the revival as Bob through use of archival footage.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b "Frank Silva". IMDb.
  2. ^ "David Lynch on the origins of BOB". YouTube. May 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021.
  3. ^ Marshall, Clay (May 23, 2017). "The Deep Connection Between 'Twin Peaks' and Heavy Metal". Vice. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  4. ^ "The cast of "Twin Peaks": Then and now". CBS News. May 19, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  5. ^ Saunders, Tristram Fane (May 29, 2017). "Twin Peaks, season 3, parts 1 & 2 big questions: has Cooper flown the coop?". The Telegraph. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  6. ^ Stephens, Emily L. (May 22, 2017). "In its nightmarish two-part return, Twin Peaks is pure Lynchian horror". A.V. Club. Retrieved July 5, 2017.