Ron Silver & Altovise Davis

Ron Silver died Sunday at his home in New York, of esophageal cancer. He was 62.

Despite a laundry list of great performances, he's best known in recent years for his role as political strategist Bruno Gianelli on The West Wing.

A political activist in real life as well, Silver (long a champion of liberal causes) switched his loyalties from Democrat to Independant, and supported George Bush after the 9-11 attacks. He even spoke at the 2004 Republican Convention. Ironically, his character did the same on The West Wing.

He was one of the good ones, and he'll be missed.


Also, Altovise Davis died Saturday, following a stroke earlier last week. She was 65.

News of Altovise Davis’s death was delivered by her publicist who explained Davis had been admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center two days before following the stroke.

The couple met in 1967 on the set of Gold Boy. The dancer and actress was Sammy Davis Jr’s third and final wife. Sammy Davis Jr died in 1990 from cancer.

Late last year, we spoke with the author of Deconstructing Sammy, a fascinating memoir about Sammy that paints a less-than-stellar picture of Altovise. We're hoping to have him back on this week.