Twin Peaks

Frank Silva (31 October 1949-13 September 1995) was a Portuguese American set dresser and sometime actor best known for his disturbing performance as the evil spirit Bob in the TV series Twin Peaks.

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 Wild at Heart.

Silva also 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. Later, Lynch accidentally caught him on camera when his reflection appeared in a mirror, and thus was born the character of Bob, a dark spirit who haunts Laura. Silva appeared occasionally as Bob, or Killer BOB, for the remainder of the Twin Peaks series and even appeared as Bob in the 1992 feature movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. His first major appearance is in the International Version of the Twin Peaks pilot, which contained a standalone ending that resolved the mystery of the series and incorporated the above-mentioned accidental footage.

Frank Silva died from a heart condition/AIDS in 1995 at age 45.