West Wing Star Dies of Cancer

Actor Ron Silver -- who played a slick strategist on NBC's The West Wing -- has died of cancer. He was 62.

"Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him early Sunday morning" in New York City, said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped found. "He had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years."

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The Emmy-nominated Silver also won a Tony Award for his role as a Hollywood producer in the David Mamet play, Speed-the-Plow.

Silver, a longtime Democrat, was also known for pushing left-leaning social and political causes.

But after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he surprised fans by supporting President George W. Bush over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He even spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention, referred to himself as a "9/11 Republican" and reregistered as an independent.

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He later claimed his support for the war on terror cost him work in liberal-minded Hollywood.

"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," Silver told the Associated Press. "I haven't worked for 10 months."

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Still, he never regretted speaking out about issues that were passionate to him.

"I think there's almost an obligation," he said in a 1991 interview with the AP. "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."

Re: West Wing Star Dies of Cancer

Saw this when I logged into Yahoo this morning and was stunned!

Re: West Wing Star Dies of Cancer

Wow...so sad.

Re: West Wing Star Dies of Cancer

He was great on West Wing!!