Milestones

DIED. Phil Silvers, 73, Emmy Award-winning comedian who after a long career in vaudeville achieved Broadway stardom in High Button Shoes (1947) and Top Banana (1951), appeared in such movies as It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, but was best known for his portrayal of Master Sergeant Ernie Bilko, the glib, rascally hero of the 1950s TV series the Phil Silvers Show; in Century City, Calif.