Dennis Hopper Dies at 74!

This one is sad. R.I.P. Sir.

Use the comment section to name your favorite Dennis Hopper role.

The End of Miramax Films Arrives

As if we didn't see this coming...The Wrap has broken the story that the movie studio will close its Los Angeles and New York offices. Over 80 individuals will also join the millions that have lost their jobs. The film studio has on its shelf a few projects including Julie Taymor's The Tempest with Academy Award Winner Helen Mirren and Nominee Djimon Hounsou. Reports say they will be given either a tepid release or sold.

It's hard to believe at one point this was the same studio that brought the big award juggernauts, Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, and The English Patient.

Guess nothing lasts forever. R.I.P.

Rest in Peace Eric Rohmer...

Sad news from The Hollywood Reporter:

French director Eric Rohmer, a member of the French New Wave, has died. He was 89.

Rohmer directed such films as "My Night at Maud's" (Ma Nuit Chez Maud), "Claire's Knee" ("Le Genou de Claire") and "Chloe in the Afternoon" (L'Amour l'apres-midi").

"My Night at Maud's" garnered an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film and best screenplay.

His "Die Marquie von O" won the Special Jury Prize at the 1976 Festival de Cannes.

Rohmer also directed "Pauline at the Beach" and "Full Moon in Paris," whose lead actress Pascale Ogier won the best actress prize at the Venice Film Festival. It won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

-R.I.P.

Brittany Murphy dies...

From Variety:

Police are investigating the death of actress Brittany Murphy's Sunday morning in Los Angeles. The 32-year-old star of such pics as "8 Mile," "Clueless" and "Don't Say a Word" was found unconscious in the shower by her mother Sunday morning, according to various reports.

Her husband, writer-producer Simon Monjack, called paramedics and she was transported to Cedar-Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Los Angeles Police Dept. is investigating the cause of her death, but the LAPD wouldn't say if criminal conduct was involved.

Murphy, born in Atlanta, started out in TV's "Murphy Brown" in 1991. Her other credits include 2005's "Sin City," 2004's "Little Black Book," 2003's "Uptown Girl" and "Just Married," plus 1999's "Girl, Interrupted." In "Clueless," she played Alicia Silverstone's perky sidekick, while in "8 Mile," she played...

perky sidekick to She did voice work on animated shows such as "Futurama" and "King of the Hill" plus pics like "Happy Feet." According to Imdb.com, she had a number of films in production including "Abandoned," "Something Wicked," "The Expendables" and "Shrinking Charlotte."

Her voice was featured in a 2006 single "Faster Kill Pussycat" from Paul Oakenfold's album "A Lively Mind." It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club chart.

Her role in "8 Mile" led to more recognition, Murphy told the Associated Press in 2003. "That changed a lot," she said. "That was the difference between people knowing my first and last name as opposed to not."

Murphy credited her mother, Sharon, with being a key to her success.

When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me," Murphy told the AP. "I was really grateful to have grown up in an environment that was conducive to creating and didn't stifle any of that. She always believed in me."

She dated Ashton Kutcher, who co-starred with Murphy in 2003's romantic comedy "Just Married."

Kutcher tweeted Sunday morning about Murphy's death: "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher wrote. "My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

-Rest in Peace...

Today's News: Toronto works as the best advertising fall films can get, Robert Redford's next directorial project gets a cast, and more...

In the news:

Variety takes a look at how the Toronto Film Festival works as a marketing tool, as well as a kickoff to the Oscar season.

Robert Redford's next film behind the camera, a period drama about the events following Lincoln's assassination, adds some big names to the cast, including James McAvoy.

Jim Carroll, the author of the book that became 'The Basketball Diaries', has passed away at age 60 from a heart attack.

Steven Soderbergh's next film, a spy thriller, has been bought for preemptive distribution by Lionsgate Films.

The next film for Ed Zwick, a romantic comedy (surprisingly), adds a lot of big names to an already impressive cast list.

It appears that Overture Films will be distributing 'Brooklyn's Finest' in the U.S., probably later on this year, though nothing is officially set.

Finally, comedy director Adam McKay has added Eva Mendes to the cast of his next comedic outing, again starring Will Ferrell, along with Mark Wahlberg.

-Thoughts?

Today's News: Pirates 4 gets a title and a release date, the writer of 'MASH' (among other things) dies, and more...

In the news:

Look for the 4th Pirates movies to be called 'On Stranger Tides' and come out in the summer of 2011.

Larry Gelbart, the man who wrote the TV version of 'MASH' and the script for 'Tootsie', has passed away at age 81.

The next location in the 'Cities of Love' films will be Jerusalem, following Paris and New York, with Shanghai still to come.

The next film for director Jamie Babbit will be a thriller co-written by the co-writer of 'American Psycho'.

-Thoughts?

Today's News: A Tribute to John Hughes, The writers of 'The Hangover' sell a spec script, Focus Features has a plan for 'Woodstock', and more...

In the news:

Many of the actors that John Hughes made into stars have been paying tribute to the fallen filmmaker.

The writers of 'The Hangover' will be teaming up with the director of 'Wedding Crashers' on a new comedy that they wrote...a body-switching comedy, no less.

Focus Features is looking to sell 'Taking Woodstock' to a wide audience and make the movie a hit

Guillermo del Toro definitely is not lacking in projects to shepherd to completion.

-Thoughts?

R.I.P. John Hughes

Very sad news today, as John Hughes, the helmer of countless classic films, has died of a heart attack. Here is what Variety had to say in a brief obituary:

John Hughes, director of culturally significant films such as "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," died suddenly today of a heart attack while taking a morning walk during a trip to Manhattan. He was 59.

John Wilden Hughes, Jr., born on February 18th, 1950 in Michigan, began as an advertising copywriter in Chicago.

In the last decade, he stepped back from the legacy he created to enjoy time with his family, maintain a functioning farm in northern Illinois and support independent arts. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, two sons, John and James, and four grandchildren.

-Rest in Peace...

Rest in Peace Ed McMahon

You will be missed...

R.I.P. David Carradine

Associated Press has the saddening story here:

Actor David Carradine, a born seeker and cult idol who broke through as the willing student called "grasshopper" in the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" and decades later as leader of an assassin squad in "Kill Bill," was found dead Thursday in Thailand. Police said he appeared to have hanged himself. The officer responsible for investigating the death, Lt. Teerapop Luanseng, said the 72-year-old actor had been staying in a suite at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel. "I can confirm that we found his body, naked, hanging in the closet," Teerapop said. He said police suspected suicide. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, said the embassy was informed by Thai authorities that Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday. "We send our heartfelt condolences to his family and his loved ones," he said. Carradine came from an acting family. His father, John, made a career playing creepy, eccentric characters in film and on stage. His brothers Keith, Robert and Bruce also became actors. Actress Martha Plimpton is Keith Carradine's daughter. "My Uncle David was a brilliantly talented, fiercely intelligent and generous man. He was the nexus of our family in so many ways, and drew us together over the years and kept us connected," Plimpton said Thursday. Carradine was "in good spirits" when he left the U.S. for Thailand on May 29 to work on the movie "Stretch," said Tiffany Smith of Binder & Associates, his managers. "David was excited to do it and excited to be a part of it," she said by phone from Beverly Hills, noting that Carradine was the sole featured American in the movie, whose other top cast members were French and Chinese. "When he was on a set he was in heaven." Filming on the thriller by French director Charles de Meaux began Tuesday, she said, adding that the crew was devastated by Carradine's death and did not wish to speak publicly about it for the time being. "It is shocking to me that he is no longer with us," said Michael Madsen, who played an assassin in "Kill Bill." "I have so many great memories of David that I wouldn't even know where to begin," he said. "He has a very special place in my heart." The Web site of the Thai newspaper The Nation said Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, and that his body was found by a hotel maid Thursday morning. It said a preliminary police investigation found that he had hanged himself with a cord used with the suite's curtains and that there was no sign that he had been assaulted. Police said Carradine's body was taken to a hospital for an autopsy that would be done Friday. Carradine appeared in more than 100 feature films with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman and Hal Ashby. One of his early film roles was as folk singer Woody Guthrie in Ashby's 1976 biopic, "Bound for Glory." But he was best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin priest traveling the 1800s American frontier West in the TV series "Kung Fu," which aired in 1972-75. "I wasn't like a TV star in those days, I was like a rock 'n' roll star," Carradine said in an interview with Associated Press Radio in 1996. "It was a phenomenon kind of thing. ... It was very special." Actor Rainn Wilson, star of TV's "The Office," tweeted about Carradine's death on Twitter: "R.I.P.David Carradine. You were a true hero to so many of us children of the 70s. We'll miss you, Kwai Chang Caine." Carradine reprised the role in a mid-1980s TV movie and played Caine's grandson in the 1990s syndicated series "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues." He returned to the top in recent years as the title character in Quentin Tarantino's two-part saga "Kill Bill." Bill, the worldly father figure of a pack of crack assassins, was a shadowy presence in 2003's "Kill Bill - Vol. 1." In that film, one of Bill's former assassins (Uma Thurman) begins a vengeful rampage against her old associates, including Bill. In "Kill Bill - Vol. 2," released in 2004, Thurman's character catches up to Bill. The role brought Carradine a Golden Globe nomination as best supporting actor. Bill was a complete contrast to Caine, the soft-spoken refugee from a Shaolin monastery, serenely spreading wisdom and battling bad guys in the Old West. He left after three seasons, saying the show had started to repeat itself. "David's always been kind of a seeker of knowledge and of wisdom in his own inimitable way," his brother, actor Keith Carradine, said in a 1995 interview. After "Kung Fu," Carradine starred in the 1975 cult flick "Death Race 2000." He starred with Liv Ullmann in Bergman's "The Serpent's Egg" in 1977 and with his brothers in the 1980 Western "The Long Riders." But after the early 1980s, he spent two decades doing mostly low-budget films. Tarantino's films changed that. "All I've ever needed since I more or less retired from studio films a couple of decades ago ... is just to be in one," Carradine told The Associated Press in 2004. "There isn't anything that Anthony Hopkins or Clint Eastwood or Sean Connery or any of those old guys are doing that I couldn't do," he said. "All that was ever required was somebody with Quentin's courage to take and put me in the spotlight." One thing remained a constant after "Kung Fu": Carradine's interest in Asian herbs, exercise and philosophy. He wrote a personal memoir called "Spirit of Shaolin" and continued to make instructional videos on tai chi and other martial arts. In the 2004 interview, Carradine talked candidly about his past boozing and narcotics use, but said he had put all that behind him and stuck to coffee and cigarettes. "I didn't like the way I looked, for one thing. You're kind of out of control emotionally when you drink that much. I was quicker to anger." "You're probably witnessing the last time I will ever answer those questions," Carradine said. "Because this is a regeneration. It is a renaissance. It is the start of a new career for me. "It's time to do nothing but look forward."

-Rest In Peace...

R.I.P. Dom DeLuise

Variety has the obituary:
Dom DeLuise, the portly actor-comedian whose affable nature made him a popular character actor for decades with movie and TV audiences as well as directors and fellow actors, has died. He was 75.
DeLuise died Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told KTLA-TV and radio station KNX on Tuesday. The comedian died in his sleep after a long illness. Calls to his agent were not immediately returned.
The actor, who loved to cook and eat almost as much as he enjoyed acting, also carved out a formidable second career later in life as a chef of fine cuisine. He authored two cookbooks and would appear often on morning TV shows to whip up his favorite recipes.
As an actor, he was incredibly prolific, appearing in scores of movies and TV shows, in Broadway plays and voicing characters for numerous cartoon shows.
Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise's talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several of his films, including "The Twelve Chairs," "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie," "History of the World Part I" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." DeLuise was also the voice of Pizza the Hutt in Brooks' "Star Wars" parody, "Spaceballs."
The actor also appeared frequently in films opposite his friend Burt Reynolds. Among them, "The End," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," 'Smokey and the Bandit II," "The Cannonball Run" and "Cannonball Run II."
Another actor-friend, Dean Martin, admired his comic abilities so much that he cast DeLuise as a regular on his 1960s comedy-variety show. In 1973, he starred in a situation comedy, "Lotsa Luck," but it proved to be short-lived.
Other TV credits included appearances on such shows as "The Munsters," "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.," "Burke's Law," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Diagnosis Murder."
On Broadway, DeLuise appeared in Neil Simon's "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" and other plays.
Because of his passion for food, the actor battled obesity throughout much of his life, his weight reaching as much as 325 pounds at one point. For years, he resisted the efforts of family members and doctors who tried to put him on various diets. He finally agreed in 1993 when he needed hip replacement surgery and his doctor refused to perform it until he lost 100 pounds.
He and his family enrolled at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C., and DeLuise lost enough weight for the surgery, although he gained some of it back afterward.
On the positive side, his love of food resulted in two successful cookbooks, 1988's "Eat This _ It Will Make You Feel Better!" and 1997's "Eat This Too! It'll Also Make You Feel Good."
At his Pacific Palisades home, DeLuise often prepared feasts for family and friends. One lunch began with turkey soup and ended with strawberry shortcake. In between, were platters of beef filet, chicken breast and sausage, a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs and a saucer of lettuce.
He strongly resembled the famed chef Paul Prudhomme and joked in a 1987 Associated Press interview that he had posed as Prudhomme while visiting his New Orleans restaurant, K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen.
DeLuise was appearing on Broadway in "Here's Love" in the early 1960s when Garry Moore saw him and hired him to play the magician "Dominick the Great" on "The Garry Moore Show."
His appearances on the hit comedy-variety program brought offers from Hollywood, and DeLuise first came to the attention of movie-goers in "Fail Safe," a drama starring Henry Fonda. He followed with a comedy, "The Glass Bottom Boat," starring Doris Day, and from then on he alternated between films and television.
"I was making $7,000 a week _ a lot of money back then _ but I didn't even know I was rich," he recalled in 1994. "I was just having such a great time."
He was born Dominick DeLuise in New York City on Aug. 1, 1933, to Italian immigrants. His father, who spoke only Italian, was a garbage collector, and those humble beginnings stayed with him throughout his life.
"My dad knows everything there is to know about garbage," one of the actor's sons, David DeLuise, told The Associated Press in 2008. "He loves to pick up a broken chair and fix it."
DeLuise's introduction to acting came at age 8 when he played the title role of Peter Rabbit in a school play. He went on to graduate from New York City's famed School of Performing Arts in Manhattan.
For five years, he sought work in theater or television with little luck. He finally decided to enroll at Tufts College and study biology, with the aim of becoming a teacher.
Acting called him back, however, and he found work at the Cleveland Playhouse, appearing in stage productions that ranged from comedies such as "Kiss Me Kate" to Shakespeare's "Hamlet." "I worked two years solidly on plays and moving furniture and painting scenery and playing parts," he remarked in a 2006 interview. "It was quite an amazing learning place for me."
While working in summer stock in Provincetown, Mass., he met a beautiful young actress, Carol Arthur, and they were soon married.
The couple's three sons, Peter, Michael and David, all became actors and all appeared with their father in the 1990s TV series "SeaQuestDSV," in which Peter and Michael were regulars.
-Rest in peace...

R.I.P. Bea Arthur

The sad news comes from IMDB:
Beatrice Arthur, the larger-than-life actress who scored on Broadway as the original matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof and the hard-drinking actress in Mame before she went on to star in the groundbreaking '70s TV series Maude and, in the '80s, the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls, died early Saturday morning. She was 86. Dan Watt, a spokesman for Arthur's family, told the Associated Press that the star had been suffering with cancer, though he did not specify what kind. She died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family by her side, said Watt, who remembered Arthur as "a brilliant and witty woman." Maude, which debuted on CBS in 1972 (and ran until 1978) was a spin-off of the hit All in the Family. As the liberal cousin of archconservative Archie Bunker's wife Edith, the much-married Maude wasn't afraid to broach such controversial (especially for TV at the time) topics as abortion and civil rights.
Golden Girls, a popular NBC Saturday-night staple from 1985 to 1992, featured Arthur as the outspoken Dorothy Zbornak, who shared a Florida home with three other retired women, including her mother, played by Estelle Getty - who died last July, at 84. The other stars were Rue McClanahan and Betty White.
Born Bernice Frankel in New York City but raised in Maryland, where her parents ran a women's clothing store, Arthur debuted on the Off Broadway stage in New York in the 1940s, with her Broadway musical triumphs - though her singing voice was deep and scratchy - in the mid-'60s.
Married and divorced twice, Arthur took her stage name (in part) from her first husband, the screenwriter, director and producer Robert Alan Aurthur, whose credits include the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz. With second husband, Mame director Gene Saks, she adopted two sons, Matthew, 47, and Daniel, 44. They survive her.
Of her powerful stage and TV persona, which often found her cast in the same sort of role, Arthur once said, "Look - I'm 5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line. What can I do about it? I can't stay home waiting for something different. I think it's a total waste of energy worrying about typecasting."
-Rest in Peace...

Natasha Richardson dies

Sad news from Variety:

After sustaining brain damage in a freak ski accident Monday, actress Natasha Richardson died Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. She was 45.
A member of the Redgrave acting dynasty -- and a Tony winner for "Cabaret" in 1999 -- Richardson was skiing at Mont-Tremblant near Montreal when she suffered a seemingly minor fall during a ski lesson.
The actress felt fine, but later complained of a headache and was hospitalized, then flown on Tuesday to the U.S. with swelling of the brain. Her family's decision to take her off life support was announced Wednesday.
She was married to Liam Neeson, with whom she had two sons, and was the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave.
She was born in London in 1963 and made her film debut at age 4 in "The Charge of the Light Brigade," directed by her father, Tony Richardson.
In "Vanessa Redgrave: An Autobiography," the actress describes her daughter as Ophelia in a Young Vic production of "Hamlet." Richardson did not play the "mad scene" as insane, but rather grief-stricken at the horrors she'd seen adults commit. It quieted the rowdy audience of young students and her grandfather, Sir Michael Redgrave summed up, "She's a true actress" -- high praise from someone who was not easily impressed.
The entire family was theatrical: Her grandmother was actress Rachel Kempson and she was the niece of actors Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave. Her first marriage was to British theatrical producer Robert Fox.
Richardson trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama and gained experience doing repertory theater in Leeds and Shakespeare at London's Old Vic. She made her West End debut as Nina in Charles Sturridge's 1986 production of Chekhov's "The Seagull," opposite her mother and Jonathan Pryce. Also in London, she starred as Tracy Lord in a stage musical adapted from the film "High Society," directed by Eyre.
Her biggest triumphs continued to be on the stage, particularly in New York, though she had a successful career on TV and in films. One of her most prominent earlier roles was starring as "Patty Hearst" in the 1988 Paul Schrader biopic.
Other notable film roles included Ken Russell's "Gothic," "A Month in the Country," "The Handmaid's Tale" (1990), "Nell," "The Comfort of Strangers," "Widows' Peak," "The Parent Trap" (1998), "Maid in Manhattan," "The White Countess" (2005) and last year's "Evening."
She also worked occasionally in television, notably opposite Maggie Smith in a 1993 remake of Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly, Last Summer," directed by Richard Eyre.
But despite her extensive screen work, it was stage that was the most successful venue for the statuesque beauty with the sonorous voice ("Natasha's voice compels you to listen, which is a great gift," her mother wrote in her autobio).
Richardson made her New York debut in 1992 in Roundabout Theater Company's Broadway transfer of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie," originally staged in London by David Leveaux. She earned her first Tony nomination for the title role, playing opposite future husband Neeson and Rip Torn.
She won the Tony four years later as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' revival of "Cabaret," also for Roundabout.
In 1999 she starred with Anna Friel, Rupert Graves and Ciaran Hinds in Patrick Marber's Rialto production of his play "Closer." And in 2005 she continued her association with Roundabout in director Edward Hall's revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire," playing Blanche DuBois opposite John C. Reilly's Stanley Kowalski.
In January of this year, Richardson appeared as fading actress Desiree Armfeldt in a one-night concert benefit for Roundabout at Studio 54 of "A Little Night Music," with her mother as Madame Armfeldt. Reports following the performance indicated that both were hoping to reprise those roles in a full Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical being planned for next season.
Among her survivors are her husband; her mother; her sister, actress Joely Richardson; and two sons.
Rest in peace...

R.I.P. Ron Silver

Variety has the obit:

Actor Ron Silver, who won a Tony Award as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood producer in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" and did a political about-face from loyal Democrat to Republican activist after the Sept. 11 attacks, died Sunday at the age of 62.
"Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him early Sunday morning" in New York City, said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped found. "He had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years."
Silver, an Emmy nominee for a recurring role as a slick strategist for liberal President Jed Bartlet on "The West Wing," had a long history of balancing acting with left-leaning social and political causes.
But after the 2001 terrorist attacks, longtime Democrat Silver turned heads in Hollywood with outspoken support of President George W. Bush over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Silver spoke on Bush's behalf at the 2004 Republican National Convention, began referring to himself as a "9/11 Republican" and reregistered as an independent.
"Under the unwavering leadership of President Bush, the cause of freedom and democracy is being advanced by the courageous men and women serving in our armed services," Silver said at the Republican convention. "The president is doing exactly the right thing. That is why we need this president at this time."
In an interview with The Associated Press a month later, Silver said his support for the war on terror was costing him work in liberal-minded Hollywood.
"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," Silver told the AP. "I haven't worked for 10 months."
His switch to a more conservative image threatened to overshadow an esteemed career on stage, television and film, along with his long history of activism, which included co-founding the nonpartisan Creative Coalition, an advocacy group for entertainers.
"He was a talented actor, a scholar and a great believer in participatory democracy," Bronk said Sunday evening. "He was an activist who became a great artist and his contributions will never be forgotten."
His big-screen credits included "Ali," ''Reversal of Fortune," ''Enemies: A Love Story," ''Silkwood" and "Semi-Tough."
Besides "The West Wing," Silver was a regular or had recurring roles on such TV shows as "Veronica's Closet," ''Chicago Hope" and "Wiseguy." He directed and costarred in the 1993 TV movie "Lifepod," a science-fiction update of Alfred Hitchcock's "Lifeboat."
Silver's Tony for "Speed-the-Plow" came in 1988, a year after he earned his first Emmy nomination, for the murder thriller "Billionaire Boys Club."
Silver did still find work despite his conservative shift, appearing in episodes of "Law & Order" and "Crossing Jordan" and such movies as "Find Me Guilty" and the Ten Commandments comedy "The Ten."
He continued his recurring role on "The West Wing," joking that he faced some taunting over his views from co-workers on the show that took place in a fiercely liberal White House administration.
"Often when I walked onto the set of 'The West Wing' some of my colleagues would greet me with a chanting of 'Ron, Ron, the neo-con.' It was all done in fun but it had an edge," Silver wrote in a Nov. 15, 2007, entry of his blog on the Pajamas Media Web site. "Since speaking in support of George Bush at the 2004 Republican convention I've become increasingly disadmired by members of my profession as well as many others."
Silver's on-screen work rankled liberals, too. He narrated 2004's "Fahrenhype 9/11," a deconstruction of Michael Moore's Bush-bashing hit documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"Michael Moore and that faction of the party was one of the factors that did not let me support the Democratic nominee this year," Silver told the AP in 2004. "He is a charlatan in a clown suit."
On his blog, Silver described his politics as a "little bit to the right of the left of center" and said that his opinions on U.S. foreign policy "haven't changed very much from what they've always been — what I would call revolutionary liberalism.
"I have always resisted reactionaries from the left or right, Democrat or Republican. At the moment, the reactionary forces on the left ... are more fearful to me than the traditional reactionary forces of the extreme right. And the Democratic Party seems to be listening to them."
On screen, Silver's roles spanned the political gamut, from ultraconservative Henry Kissinger in the 1995 TV movie "Kissinger and Nixon" to ultraliberal Alan Dershowitz in 1990's "Reversal of Fortune."
Silver underwent a memorable transformation for the 2001 TV movie "When Billie Beat Bobby," disguising himself behind black-rimmed glasses and bushy sideburns to play Bobby Riggs in his notorious 1970s tennis match against Billie Jean King (Holly Hunter).
Born July 2, 1946, in New York City, he was the son of Irving and May Silver. His father worked in New York's garment industry and his mother was a teacher.
Earning a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master's degree in Chinese history from St. John's University, Silver also studied drama at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Actors Studio.
In the 1970s, he gradually moved from theater work in New York City into television and film, his early credits including "The Mac Davis Show," ''Rhoda" and "The Stockard Channing Show."
Silver and ex-wife Lynne Miller had a son, Adam, and daughter, Alexandra.
Once recruited as a CIA apprentice, Silver maintained an interest in politics, international affairs and social causes throughout his life.
Besides founding the Creative Coalition, Silver served as president of the Actor's Equity Association, was appointed in the late 1990s by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to head New York City's Millennium Committee and was appointed by Bush to the board of directors for the U.S. Institute of Peace.
No matter on which end of the political spectrum his activism fell, Silver viewed such involvement as something of a duty for entertainers.
"I think there's almost an obligation," Silver said in a 1991 interview with the AP. "Many of us are very well compensated for work which a lot of people would love to do. And we also have a lot of leisure time in between jobs. ...
"They say that Hollywood is sex without substance, and Washington is substance without sex, so maybe the marriage of the two is mutually intriguing."
-Rest in peace...