Ron Silver was born on July 2, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA as Ronald Arthur Silver. He was an actor and director, known for Ali (2001), Timecop (1994) and Reversal of Fortune (1990). He was married to Lynne Miller. He died on March 15, 2009 in New York City.
Often played intense, graphic, violent/psychotic characters
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Deep smooth voice
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Quote
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In this business, there are a million different reasons people don't want to work with you. You're too Jewish, you're not Jewish enough, they want a bigger star, they think you cost too much money. Most people are very economical with the truth out here, so it's very hard to determine cause and effect.
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There have been a few occasions when people have said, 'I won't work with that S.O.B.' It has happened, but on an individual basis. It is not in any way, shape or form a blacklist.
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Often when I walked onto the set of The West Wing (1999) some of my colleagues would greet me with a chanting of "Ron, Ron, the neo-con." It was all done in fun but it had an edge.
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[on his support for George W. Bush] It's affected me very badly. I can't point to a person or a job I've lost, but this community is not very pluralistic. I haven't worked for 10 months.
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[on actors getting involved in politics] I think there's almost an obligation. Many of us are very well compensated for work which a lot of people would love to do. And we also have a lot of leisure time in between jobs... They say that Hollywood is sex without substance, and Washington is substance without sex, so maybe the marriage of the two is mutually intriguing.
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By inclination I am more of a politician than I am an actor. I care more about public policy. I care more about pro-choice, the environment, homelessness, and nuclear issues than I do about any part.
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Fact
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He was a vocal Zionist.
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He was survived by both of his parents, Irving and May Silver.
Won the 1988 Best Actor Tony Award for his Broadway performance as "Charlie Fox" in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow".
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He studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.
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Was once a social worker as well as a high school teacher.
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Was exempt from the draft during the Vietnam War era. He traveled to Vietnam, however, as well as Cambodia, India, Japan and the Soviet Union in the late 1960s.
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Grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
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Was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a member of the program committee of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
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Was a founding president of the Creative Coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan social and political advocacy organization made up of arts and entertainment figures. He was also a founding member of One Jerusalem, an educational foundation with a goal of "maintaining a united Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel".
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President of the Actors Equity Association, the stage actors union, 1991-2000.
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The son of Irving and May Silver. His father worked in New York's garment industry and his mother was a teacher.
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Was considered for the role of Steve Christy in Friday the 13th (1980).
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Served on the advisory board of The Israel Project, a non-profit advocacy group.
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Campaigned for Michael Dukakis in the 1988 US presidential race.
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Began his acting career on the New York stage in 1971.
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He had a son, Adam (born in 1979), and a daughter, Alexandra (born in 1983), with his ex-wife Lynne Miller.
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A lifelong Democrat of the Harry Truman mold (his description), he broke with the Democratic Party over the "war on terrorism" and spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. Had re-registered as an Independent.
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He taught Spanish for several years in the 1960s at The Roosevelt School, a Jewish boarding school in Shippan Point, Stamford, Connecticut. Because of his knowledge of Chinese, he got a job with the US Government and traveled to Taiwan in the early 1970s.
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Alumnus of the State University of New York at Buffalo. Earned a master's degree in Chinese history from St. John's University. He also studied drama at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Actors Studio.
$500,000
