Ron Silver is gone

Ron Silver, the 62 year old Tony Award winner and Emmy nominee, died yesterday of cancer.

Years ago, I was lucky enough to meet him. I was living back east and still doing extra work when I got a call asking if I wanted to do a days work on West Wing.

I arrived and was surprised to see that it was me, 2 other extras and most of the cast. At one point we had a break and I ducked off to the bathroom. I was standing at the urinal when Ron walked in and stood at the one right next to me. He started singing and humming at the top of his lungs all while I stood there trying to pee as fast as possible.

I zipped up and started washing my hands while he was still singing (I wish I could remember the song). He finished, flushed the urinal and walked out of the bathroom.

He came back in a second later, laughing. “I bet you thought I wasn’t going to wash my hands!”

I wish I could say I came back with something funny but I didn’t. I just laughed back like a moron. He then made some small talk asking me about how my day was which to a young actor was like an adrenaline rush.

He truly was a nice guy and a great actor.

You can click here and here for some good obits.