The actor, director, producer and political activist reportedly died in his sleep with his family around. It happened early Saturday morning, said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver co-founded. Silver was in New York with his family. 

 

Silver was nominated for an Emmy award for his role as Bruno Gianelli, a strategist for liberal President Jed Bartlet on "The West Wing." He also won a Tony award as a producer in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow." He was also nominated for an Emmy award for the murder thriller “Billionaire Boys Club.”

 

Ron Silver was also known for being very politically active and especially for turning from a loyal Democrat into a Republican activist after the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. Since then he heavily supported President George W. Bush over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Silver referred to himself as a "9/11 Republican" starting 2004 at the Republican National Convention. Then, he changed his party affiliation from Democrat to independent. 

 

His political switch threatened his career as an esteemed actor and director. In an interview with The Associated Press after the 2004 Republican National Convention, Silver said that he lost a considerable amount of work due to his political face-about.  

 

"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. I haven't worked for 10 months," he said then. 

 

Silver also had a long history of political activism including the co-founding of the nonpartisan Creative Coalition, an advocacy group for entertainers.