Ronald Arthur Silver (July 2, 1946 – March 15, 2009) was an American actor. He portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded the 1988 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for Speed-the-Plow, a satirical dissection of the American movie business, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his recurring role as political strategist Bruno Gianelli in The West Wing.
Early life and education Silver was born on July 2, 1946, in Manhattan, the son of May (née Zimelman), a substitute teacher, and Irving Roy Silver, a clothing sales executive. Silver was raised Jewish on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and attended Stuyvesant High School.
Silver went on to graduate from the State University of New York at Buffalo, with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Chinese, and earned a master's degree in Chinese History from St. John's University in New York and the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan. He also attended Columbia University's Graduate School of International Affairs (SIPA), and studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio, and later at The Actors Studio. As a student he was exempt from the Vietnam War draft.The real Don Silver The Washington Post November 25, 1990. (subscription required)
Career Silver got his big acting break starring in El Grande de Coca-Cola in 1974. Producers Richard Flanzer and Roy Silver (no relation) opened it at the famed Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. The production ran for more than a year. Silver and his co-star, actor Jeff Goldblum, were discovered by Hollywood film agents during this show's run.
In 1976, he made his film debut in Tunnel Vision, and also played a placekicker in the football comedy film Semi-Tough. From 1976 to 1978, he had a recurring role as Gary Levy in the sitcom Rhoda, a spinoff from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Additional screen roles include psychiatrists in the Chuck Norris film Silent Rage and in the horror story The Entity (1983), the devoted son of Anne Bancroft in Garbo Talks (1984), an incompetent detective in Eat and Run (1986), the pistol-wielding psychopath stalking Jamie Lee Curtis in 1989's Blue Steel, and the lead in Paul Mazursky's Oscar-nominated Enemies, A Love Story (1989).
He starred as Jerry Lewis's character's son in the multi-episode "Garment District Arc" of the television crime series Wiseguy (1988).
He portrayed two well-known attorneys in films based on actual events, playing defense attorney Alan Dershowitz in the drama Reversal of Fortune (1990), based on the trial of Claus von Bülow and defense attorney Robert Shapiro in the television film American Tragedy (2000), the story of the O. J. Simpson trial.
From 1991 to 2000, Silver served as president of the Actors' Equity Association. He played a film producer in Best Friends opposite Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn (1982), an actor in Lovesick (1983) and a film director in Mr. Saturday Night (1992). Silver portrayed a corrupt, rogue senator in the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme sci-fi thriller Timecop.
On television in 1998, he starred opposite Kirstie Alley in season two of her TV comedy series Veronica's Closet.
In other films based on true stories, Silver portrayed tennis player Bobby Riggs in the TV docudrama When Billie Beat Bobby (2001), about Riggs' real-life exhibition tennis match against Billie Jean King, which Riggs lost. He was also featured as Muhammad Ali's boxing trainer and cornerman Angelo Dundee in Michael Mann's 2001 biopic Ali.
In 2000 he starred as rock promoter Bill Graham in “Bill Graham Presents” a one-man show written by playwright Robert Greenfield, who co-wrote Graham's posthumously published 1992 autobiography.
From 2001 to 2002 and again from 2005 to 2006, he had a recurring role as presidential campaign adviser Bruno Gianelli on the NBC series The West Wing.
Silver provided the narration for the 2004 political documentary film FahrenHYPE 9/11 that was produced as a conservative political response to the award-winning and controversial Michael Moore documentary film, Fahrenheit 9/11.
Silver also narrated a MEMRI documentary film about the Arab and Iranian reactions to the September 11 attacks called The Arab and Iranian Reaction to 911: Five Years Later.
Additionally, Silver narrated the audiobook versions of several Philip Roth novels, including American Pastoral, The Plot Against America, and Portnoy's Complaint.
One of his final film performances was as a judge in another true story, 2006's Find Me Guilty, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Vin Diesel.
In February 2008, Silver began hosting The Ron Silver Show on Sirius Satellite Radio, which focused on politics and public affairs.
Personal life Silver traveled to more than 30 countries and spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. He taught at the high school level and was a social worker for the Department of Social Services.
In 1975 he married Lynne Miller, a social worker who later became a Self magazine editor. The couple had two children; they divorced in 1997.
In 1989, he co-founded the Creative Coalition, an entertainment industry political advocacy organization that champions First Amendment rights, public education, and support for the arts.
Political beliefs Silver was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2000, he co-founded the organization One Jerusalem to oppose the Oslo Peace Agreement and to maintain "a united Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel".
Silver, who had been a lifelong Democrat, left the party and became an independent and a supporter of President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, citing those attacks and Democratic policies regarding terrorism as reasons. He spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention, continued to support Bush, and was appointed chairman for the Millennium Committee by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
In a blog post on the PJ Media website, Silver recounted that colleagues on the set of The West Wing had teasingly referred to him as "Ron, Ron, the Neo-Con".
On October 7, 2005, Bush nominated Silver to the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace. On September 8, 2006, it was announced that Silver had joined an advisory committee to the Lewis Libby Legal Defense Trust.
Bush also appointed Silver to the Honorary Delegation that accompanied him to Jerusalem in May 2008 for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel.
In one of his last televised interviews, Silver told Sky News that Senator John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate in the 2008 Presidential election was a "brilliant political choice" but that a part of him wished to "see an African American become president in my lifetime". In his obituary in The New York Times, his brother, Mitchell Silver, was quoted as saying, "He told me that he did vote for Barack Obama in the end".
Death Silver, a long-time smoker, died on March 15, 2009, at the age of 62, of esophageal cancer, which had been diagnosed two years earlier. He is buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Filmography
Film YearTitleRole Notes1976Tunnel VisionDr. Manuel Laborfilm debut1976Welcome to L.A.MassueseUncredited1977Semi-ToughVlada Kostov1982Silent RageDr. Tom Halman The EntityPhil SneidermanBest FriendsLarry Weisman1983LovesickTed CarusoSilkwoodPaul Stone1984Romancing the StoneVendor The Goodbye PeopleEddie BergsonGarbo TalksGilbert RolfeOh, God! You DevilGary Frantz1987Eat and RunMickey McSorely1989Enemies, A Love StoryHerman Broder1990Blue SteelEugene HuntReversal of FortuneAlan Dershowitz1991Married to ItLeo Rothenberg The Good PolicemanIsaac Seidel1992Live WireFrank TraveresMr. Saturday NightLarry Meyerson1994TimecopSen. Aaron McComb1995Deadly OutbreakColonel BaronDirect-to-Video1996 The ArrivalPhil Gordian / Mexican GuardGirl 6Director #2 - LADanger ZoneMaurice Dupont1998 The White RavenTully Windsor1999Black and WhiteSimon Herzel2001Festival in CannesRick YorkinAliAngelo DundeeExposureGary WhitfordDirect-to-Video2002 The WisherCampbell2005Red MercurySidney2006Find Me GuiltyJudge Sidney FinesteinCall It FictionChasShort2007 The TenFielding Barnes2009 A Secret PromiseSam Dunbar(final film role)
Television YearTitleRole Notes1974 The Mac Davis Showunknownunknown episode1975Big EddieEnzoEpisode: "Hellow Poppa"McMillan & WifeArtEpisode: "Secrets for Sale"RhodaSonny MichaelsEpisode: "Mucho, Macho"1976 The Rockford FilesTed HallerEpisode: "The Italian Bird Fiasco" The Return of the World's Greatest DetectiveDr. CollinsTelevision Movie1976–1978RhodaGary Levyseries regular; 33 episodes1978Having BabiesLamarEpisode: "Careers"Murder at the Mardi GrasLarry CookTelevision MovieBetrayalBob CohenTelevision Movie1979Dear DetectiveDetective Schwartz4 episodes1980Here's BoomerKolodnyEpisode: "Private Eye" The Stockard Channing ShowBrad Gabrielseries regular; 13 episodes1981World of HonorDavid LernerTelevision Series1982Baker's DozenMike Locasale6 episodes; recurring role1983Hill Street BluesSam Weiser2 episodes1984American PlayhouseGruenwaldEpisode: "The Cafeteria"1985Kane & AbelThaddeus CohenTelevision Miniseries; 2 episodes1986Trapped in SilenceDr. Jeff TomlinsonTelevision Movie1987Trying TimesDriving InstructorEpisode: "Drive, She Said"1987Billionaire Boys ClubRon LevinTelevision MovieNominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special1988 A Father's RevengeMax GreewaldTelevision Movie1988–1989WiseguyDavid Sternberg5 episodes; recurring role1990Screen TwoAsa KaufmanEpisode: "Fellow Traveller"Forgotten Prisoners: The Amnesty FilesJordan FordTelevision Movie1993Blind SideDoug KainesTelevision MovieLifepodTermanTelevision Movie; also Director1995 A Woman of Independent MeansArthurTelevision Miniseries; 3 episodesAlmost Golden: The Jessica Savitch StoryRon KershawTelevision MovieKissinger and NixonHenry A. Kissinger/NarratorTelevision MovieNominated - Gemini Award for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Dramatic Program1996Shadow Zone: The Undead ExpressValentineTelevision Movie1996–1997Chicago HopeTommy Wilmette11 episodes; recurring role1997 The BeneficiaryGuy GirardTelevision MovieSkeletonsPeter CraneTelevision Movie1998Rhapsody in BloomMitch BloomTelevision Movie1998–1999Veronica's ClosetAlec Bilsonseries regular; 23 episodes (season 2)1999Love Is StrangeTom AinsworthTelevision MovieIn the Company of SpiesTom LenahanTelevision MovieHeat Vision and JackRon SilverTelevision Short2000RatzHerb SoricTelevision MovieCutawayLieutenant Brian MargateTelevision MovieAmerican TragedyRobert ShapiroTelevision Movie2001When Billie Beat BobbyBobby RiggsTelevision Movie The PracticeAttorney John MocklerEpisode: "Killing Time"2001–2006 The West WingBruno Gianelli19 episodes; recurring roleNominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series2002Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen StoryMike FineTelevision Movie2003–2004SkinLarry Goldman6 episodes; recurring role2004JackPaulTelevision MovieNominated - Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children/Youth/Family Special2004–2007Law & OrderBernie Adler2 episodes2006Law & Order: Trial by JuryBernie AlderEpisode: "Eros in the Upper Eighties"2007Crossing JordanShelly LevineEpisode: "Night of the Living Dead"2008XenophobiaPresidentTelevision Movie
References
External links