Ron Silver (1946-2009)

Ron Silver, who died today aged 62, would likely take as a compliment that he was among the Hollywood actors most skilled in playing slime to grace the screen in the last 20 years. For me, his creep factor went way up when the formerly liberal actor delved deeply in right-wing politics after 9/11. His political shift though most certainly enhanced his abilities, most evidently in The West Wing, where he stood out as the one unquestionable black hat in the angelic Bartlett White House. Whenever Bruno Gianelli appeared onscreen, he managed to drag down that high-minded show to the realpolitik level.

I last saw him on an a rather clever episode of Crossing Jordan, where he played an especially satanic defense attorney who ostensibly underwent a Scrooge-like transformation during a near-death experience, but not really. The first time I saw him was in a more heroic-lawyer vein (not really), as Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who defends Claus von Bulow (Oscar-winning Jeremy Irons) in the underrated Reversal of Fortune.