Ron Silver succumbed to esophageal cancer today at the age of sixty-two. He was a bold, ferocious talent who pursued his two loves - acting and politics - with equal fervor. When he bolted the Democratic Party in the wake of 9/11, he found himself waging rhetorical war against former friends, and the fight clearly invigorated him (see his speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention, or read his give-no-quarter blog at Pajamas Media). And when the Tony Award-winning actor appeared onscreen alongside, say, Jeff Speakman (in 1996's DEADLY OUTBREAK), his dedication to the work was almost indistinguishable from the effort he put out for a prestige picture like Paul Mazursky's ENEMIES: A LOVE STORY.
Was there a definitive Silver performance? For those who saw the original Broadway production of David Mamet's SPEED-THE-PLOW back in 1988, it would probably be the hustling Hollywood producer Charlie Fox. He was also said to be sensational in David Rabe's HURLYBURLY as the sarcastic/flip casting agent Mickey.
When it comes to film, however, it's hard to settle on one singular moment of greatness. I wish I could say that his beset ghostwriter Broder from ENEMIES: A LOVE STORY is the first role that springs to mind. Or his keyed-up portrayal of Alan Dershowitz in Barbet Schroeder's REVERSAL OF FORTUNE. But they're not. No, it's Senator McComb - his sneering, caustic villain from TIMECOP - that inexplicably leaps to the fore. Though he was excellent in those other films, I can't think of another movie where he really let it rip like this. It's the one performance where you truly get the sense of what it would've been like to see him in his prime, raging away on the stage. The guy was devouring run-of-the-mill action movie dialogue like it was filet mignon; imagine what he did with the profane poetry of Mamet and Rabe.
One thing that stands out in Silver's film career was his willingness to play indelible historical figures. Aside from Dershowitz, there was Henry Kissinger in KISSINGER & NIXON, Bobby Riggs in WHEN BILLIE BEAT BOBBY, Robert Shapiro in AMERICAN TRAGEDY, and, in one of his subtlest, least-appreciated turns, boxing trainer Angelo Dundee in Michael Mann's ALI (I love Dundee quietly agreeing with Malcolm X - "He's right" - as he methodically tapes his fighter's fists prior to the first Sonny Liston bout).
I should also add that I'll always hear Silver bellowing "His father is the district attorney!!!" You either get that or you don't.
As was the case with legendary character actor J.T. Walsh, I anticipate that we'll miss Silver more in the years ahead. We'll be watching some barely serviceable, middle-of-April action-thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, and when the bad guy fails to register with his scenery-chewing "This is how I framed you for murder and sold your wife into white slavery" monologue, we'll exclaim, "Where the fuck's Ron Silver when you need him!?!?"
Then we'll go home, throw in TIMECOP, and be not ashamed. Because Ron never was.
