Another West Wing Loss – Ron Silver is Dead

WW Bruno dead. Cancer

It was a text from my wife and I knew exactly what it meant. Ron Silver, the actor who played Bruno Gianelli in the West Wing died on Sunday night after a long fight with throat cancer.

I loved his character in WW for his fearlessness and his desire to win. Bruno always knew his own mind and never feared speaking truth to power. I was a little disappointed when he switched camps in the last series and backed the campaign of the Republican candidate played by Alan Alda. But here’s the thing, art was imitating life. In real life Silver was deeply engaged in politics and called himself a 9/11 Republican because after that atrocity he switched party membership from Democrat to Independent and became a prominent Bush supporter, even speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

I heard him on the BBC during the last US election season and found him a hugely articulate and entertaining commentator on political affairs and deeply passionate about politics. He was also the co-founder of The Creative Coalition, which is a coalition of creatives, actors, writers etc. who wanted to move beyond the usual celebrity-in-politics photo-shoot to speaking cogently and coherently on issues.

Ron Silver was a fine actor and political activist, and I’ll always enjoy his turn as Bruno. In the WW episode Election Day Part 2 Bruno declares that this would be his final campaign, that he wanted to retire to upstate New York where he was considering growing some flowers. (Lest you think I’m a sad mad-fan, my wife and I were coincidentally watching the episode last night). I hope that in his real life he got some space to do something similar before the end.

That’s two of that great ensemble cast gone now, as Silver joins John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry, in the great Oval Office in the sky.