Silver directed and produced the classic Style Wars, Grand Prize Winner at the Sundance Film Festival—the epic feature documentary about New York subway graffiti artists and the rise of hip hop from the streets of the Bronx and Harlem.

NEW YORK Tony Silver was a native of New York City, where he attended Columbia University and briefly pursued an acting career, before becoming the leading independent maker of movie trailers on the east coast. He began making films in 1970, while continuing to create award winning trailers, main titles, special effects, and commercials. He relocated to in Los Angeles in 1991.

Silver directed and produced the classic Style Wars, Grand Prize Winner at the Sundance Film Festival—the epic feature documentary about New York subway graffiti artists and the rise of hip hop from the streets of the Bronx and Harlem. An urban kaleidoscope of spectacular street art, music and dance, the film is also a multi-perspective view one of the more potent social and artistic controversies of our time. Style Wars was a prime time special on the PBS Network and broadcast the world. An official selection of the Toronto Film Festival, prize winner at the Chicago, Houston and Athens Film Festivals and the Montreal Festival of Films on Art, the film also received the Prized Pieces Award of the National Black Programming Consortium. Regarded by many as the most authentic film expression of the original spirit of hip hop, its worldwide popularity continues to increase every year.

Silver's public television film Anita Ellis, For The Record documented a rare recording session by the legendary jazz-pop singer, Anita Ellis with the pianist Ellis Larkins. It received a Cine Gold Eagle Award, has been screened at numerous festivals, and broadcast on PBS and in England, Germany and Scandinavia. His short film, The Miss Nude America Movie, was shown at the New York Film Festival.

Silver directed the special visual sequences for Universal Pictures’ Resurrection, depicting the "life after life" experience of star Ellen Burstyn’s character. He worked as second unit director on the television series New York Undercover and Swift Justice, and the pilot Invisible Man. His main title credits include Alien, The Shadow, Sweet Lorraine, and for television, Tribeca, The Flash, Viper and The Sentinel.

Among Silver’s classic trailers and audio-visual campaigns are Alien, Platoon, Colors, Miller’s Crossing, The Truman Show and Primal Fear.

Silver was developing Tumbling Hawk, a feature film about a white-educated Cheyenne boy in 1850s and 60s, who grows up to be the brilliant leader of a spectacular military campaign to win back the range of the Nebraska territory. His television projects also include The Comics and America, a three part journey through the history of the comic strip and comic book, and their impact on American culture, art and media since 1890.

Silver was married to Lisa Citron, a writer and educator. He was the proud father of two adult daughters, Nini and Mariko.

Tony Silver director of Style Wars has died of cancer 24 hours ago.

....rest in peace and thanks for everything!

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