Veteran actor Ron Silver, best known for stand-out roles in **Ali **and The West Wing, died on Sunday in his home town of New York after a two-year battle with esophageal cancer.
The gifted character actor made his big screen debut in 1976 anthology movie **Tunnel Vision **alongside John Candy and Chevy Chase, showing a dry wit and sly sense of comic timing that would be a feature of his 35 year career.
Well-known on the big screen for roles such as Timecop's villainous Senator McComb, Reversal Of Fortune's defense attorney Alan Dershowitz and** Ali**'s cornerman Angelo Dundee, Silver also made his mark on television. Perhaps best among his TV roles was his terrific performance as Jed Bartlet's election strategist Bruno Gianelli in The West Wing. Unafraid to ruffle feathers, Silver's slick svengali lent season three a chunk of dramatic bite.
Fittingly, Silver saw himself as a politician as much as an actor, although in a case of life-not-imitating-life, he switched allegiance from Democrat to the Republican Party not long before joing The West Wing. An outspoken advocate of free speech and artists rights, he co-founded the Creative Coalition, an advocacy group for entertainers. Silver would later claim that his switch to the GOP cost him work in liberal Hollywood.
Silver's TV career also included roles in Veronica's Closet, Chicago Hope and NBC miniseries Billionaire Boys Club, for which he received an Emmy nomination. His stage appearances included a Tony-winning turn in a 1988 staging of David Mamet's Speed-The-Plough.