Many of his early feature films were of the noir genre in which he often played villains, such as Eddie Harwood in The Blue Dahlia and the sadistic Captain Francis Thompson in Two Years Before the Mast (both 1946).

Da Silva's characterization of historic figures are among some of his most notable work: he was Lincoln's brawling friend Jack Armstrong in both play (1939) and film (1940) versions of Abe Lincoln in Illinois written by Robert Sherwood; Benjamin Franklin in the 1969–1972 stage musical 1776 and a reprisal of the role for the 1972 film version of the production; Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in The Missiles of October (1974); Franklin D. Roosevelt in The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977); and Louis B. Mayer in Mommie Dearest (1981).

Da Silva was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Bertha (née Sen) and Benjamin Silverblatt, a dress cutter.

[citation needed] Da Silva was a graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology and studied acting with Eva Le Gallienne beginning in 1928 at the Civic Repertory Theatre.

Four days before the show opened on Broadway, he suffered a minor heart attack but refused to seek medical assistance because he wanted to make sure critics saw his performance.

Da Silva did summer stock at the Pine Brook Country Club, located in the countryside of Nichols, Connecticut, with the Group Theatre (New York) formed by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Some of his memorable roles include a leading mutineer in The Sea Wolf (1941), Ray Milland's bartender in The Lost Weekend (1945), and the half-blind criminal "Chicamaw 'One-Eye' Mobley" in They Live by Night (1949).

[10] Da Silva returned to the stage, and he was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as "Ben Marino" in Fiorello!

[11] Da Silva was nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actor for his performance as Dr. Swinford in David and Lisa (1962).

He won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special for his role as Eddie in Verna: U.S.O.

Following his March 1951 testimony, in which he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights,[14] his lead performance in the completed feature film Slaughter Trail was re-shot with actor Brian Donlevy.

[134] Nevertheless, the announcements were so familiar a part of some viewers' experience of Doctor Who that they became a standard extra feature on BBC DVD releases of early Tom Baker serials.