http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1886567,00.html

Ron Silver
By Aaron Sorkin Thursday, Mar. 19, 2009

It's not hard for me to remember Ron Silver's first day of work on The
West Wing. It was a table read of the first episode of the fourth
season, and Ron, who died March 15 at 62, had been cast in the role of
Bruno Gianelli--campaign director for President Jed Bartlet's
re-election bid. His first line came about five minutes into the script,
and as soon as he spoke, the 60 or so people in the room made an
involuntary sound--you could hear people smile. This wasn't a Ron Silver
impersonator; it was obviously Ron Silver. The one who was Rhoda's
neighbor in the spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the one who
had blown the doors off the Barrymore Theatre in Hurlyburly. The one
who'd played Joe Mantegna's foil in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow (a role
that won him a Tony Award in 1988) and the tortured and outrageous Alan
M. Dershowitz in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune.

You always wanted to be standing next to Ron between takes. He was
either going to make you feel good about the work you were doing, or he
was going to make you laugh--but usually both. He was always what we
called a "generous actor"--someone who's there for the piece and not for
himself.

On his last day of work on The West Wing, he conveyed to me the courtesy
that's common in that situation: "I'd love to work with you again," he
said. I replied, "I'd love that too." And, of course, I meant it. It
won't happen now, after Ron lost his long battle with cancer--one of the
few battles he ever lost. And television, the movies and the theater all
have one less great and generous actor.