Ron Silver

Birthday: Jul 2, 1946
Birthplace: New York City, New York

Bio: An intense, quixotic performer, Silver, a native New Yorker, escaped serving in Vietnam by traveling through Asia and Russia in the 1960s on an intelligence-gathering mission for the CIA (and getting arrested at least once). Back in the USA, he taught school for about a year in Connecticut, before moving to New York, where he made his stage debut in 1971. Silver… More Bio: An intense, quixotic performer, Silver, a native New Yorker, escaped serving in Vietnam by traveling through Asia and Russia in the 1960s on an intelligence-gathering mission for the CIA (and getting arrested at least once). Back in the USA, he taught school for about a year in Connecticut, before moving to New York, where he made his stage debut in 1971. Silver spent the '70s acting in off-Broadway and regional productions. He made his Broadway debut as a replacement in Mike Nichols' production of David Rabe's "Hurlyburly" (1984-85). Nichols also teamed the actor with Marlo Thomas and Olympia Dukakis in the gentle comedy "Social Security" (1986). Silver attained stage stardom with a Tony Award-winning turn as a sleazy film producer opposite Madonna in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" (1988). He left the productions of "La Bete" (1991) and Arthur Miller's "Broken Glass" (1994) during their pre-Broadway tryouts over "creative differences". The dark-haired, laser-eyed Silver hit the small screen in 1976, appearing in "The Mac Davis Show" (NBC), as Valerie Harper's neighbor on "Rhoda" (CBS, from 1976-78) and in his first TV-movie, "The Return of the World's Greatest Detective" (NBC). He played supporting roles in TV-movies and miniseries, such as "Murder at the Mardi Gras (CBS, 1978) and "Kane & Abel" (CBS, 1985) before landing his first starring role in "Forgotten Prisoners: The Amnesty Files" (TNT, 1990). He offered a memorable characterization of a NYC garmento in a story arc of "Wiseguy" (CBS, 1988-89) which featured Jerry Lewis as his father and Stanley Tucci as his nemesis. Silver went on to appear in the thriller "Live Wire" (HBO, 1992), the sci-fi "Lifepod" (his directorial debut, Fox, 1993), "Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story" (Lifetime, 1995) and as the Secretary of State in "Kissinger and Nixon" (TNT, 1995). None of his series--"Dear Detective" (CBS, 1979), "The Stockard Channing Show" (CBS, 1980), "Baker's Dozen" (CBS, 1982)--lasted long. Silver has played a recurring role as Christine Lahti's ex-husband on the CBS drama series "Chicago Hope". Beginning with his part as a Spanish instructor in "Tunnelvision" in 1976, Silver did a number of supporting film roles (e.g., "Semi-Tough", 1977; "Best Friends", 1982) and finally began making an impression with good turns in "Silkwood" (1982) and as a bereft son in "Garbo Talks" (1984). He received widespread acclaim for his film performances as a resourceful, womanizing Holocaust survivor in Paul Mazursky's "Enemies, A Love Story" (1989) and as Alan Dershowitz in "Reversal of Fortune" (1990), Barbet Schroeder's black comedy of manners based on the Von Bulow murder trial. That year, he also played an oily villain stalking rookie cop Jamie Lee Curtis in Kathryn Bigelow's "Blue Steel". During the first half of the '90s, Silver has co-starred in "Married to It" (1991), Billy Crystal's "Mr. Saturday Night" (1992), "Timecop" (1994), Spike Lee's "Girl 6" and the sci-fi thriller "The Arrival" (both 1996). Active in many political causes, Silver is a co-founder (and first president) of the liberal advocacy group, The Creative Coalition. He was elected president of Actors' Equity Association in June, 1991.