Monty Silver, Top Talent Agent
Monty Silver, a talent agent whose clients were among the stars of stage and screen, died at his home in Springs on Jan. 19 of bladder cancer. He was 83 and had been ill for 13 months. His family said he had been treasured for his warmth and sharp sense of humor.
Mr. Silver, who started an eponymous agency in New York City in the 1950s and launched SMS Talent in Los Angeles with two partners in the 1990s, discovered and helped develop the careers of Peter Boyle, Lou Gossett Jr., Frank Langella, Jon Voight, Roy Scheider, and Bonnie Bedelia. He later represented Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, Sylvia Sidney, Celeste Holm, Reed Birney, and many others. He also discovered the Emmy Award-winning actor Zeljko Ivanek as a last-minute understudy at Williamstown.
According to his wife, Tracy Jamar, who survives, Laurence Fishburne was another of his discoveries. “I was with Monty when Laurence told him during a chance meeting at Joe Allen’s [a Manhattan theater district restaurant] that he had named his daughter after him.” Her name is Montana and he calls her Monty.
Monty Silver was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 7, 1933, to Irving Silver and the former Lillian Rock. He attended Erasmus Hall High School and earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1957. He had enlisted in the Army in 1951 and served at a postal officer in Biarritz, France.
Mr. Silver lived in New York City and had a summer home on Fire Island until 1986, when he moved to Springs. After retiring in 2003, he made his permanent home here.
“Monty loved telling and hearing a good story — even if it was at his expense,” Ms. Jamar said. “He was infuriatingly and delightfully multifaceted, from being quite particular about certain things to his wonderful sense of humor. He had a caring generosity on many levels. Without him everything has dimmed.”
Ms. Jamar said her husband was a voracious reader of nonfiction, history, and biographies, especially theater biographies. Among his many other interests were the New York Giants, both football and baseball, the New York Mets, the New York Rangers, horse racing, card, word, and number games, and crossword puzzles. He also collected American country antiques with his wife.
Charles Silver, a nephew who is a partner in SMS Talent, said, “I’ve been reminded a few times recently of something Monty said when I started out at the agency: ‘The only thing harder to deal with than an out-of-work actor is a working actor.’ While that was often true, he never stopped trying to get them that next job.”
In addition to Ms. Jamar, two daughters, Deirdre Silver and Emily Barere, both of Hoboken, N.J., and three grandchildren survive. A first marriage, to Pamela Burrell, ended in divorce.
Mr. Silver's ashes are to be dispersed at his favorite local places, his family said, and a memorial service will be held in the spring. Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Actors Fund, 729 Seventh Avenue, 10th floor, New York 10019.