NEW YORK — Ron Simons, an actor who became a formidable film and theater producer, winning four Tony Awards and having several films selected at the Sundance Film Festival, has died. He was 63 years old.
SimonSays Entertainment, his New York-based production company, said Simons died on Wednesday but did not give the cause or other details.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share the unexpected passing of our beloved, blessed and highly favored friend, Ronald Keith Simons,” said the producer. he wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Simons won Tonys for producing “Porgy and Bess,” with Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald, “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” starring Jefferson Mays, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” with Sigourney Weaver, and “ Jitney,” with John Douglas Thompson.
He also co-produced “Hughie” with Forest Whitaker, “The Gin Game” starring Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations,” an all-black production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the revival of “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the arch- iris is enuf” and the original work “Thoughts of a Colored Man”.
In 2022, after the first full season since the death of George Floyd reignited a conversation about race and representation in America, Simons was pleased to see Broadway’s offering one of his most diverse slates Tony yet.
“I can guarantee that I haven’t seen that many black people represented in every category at the Tony Awards,” he told the Associated Press. “I was so uplifted and impressed by it.”
On the film side, Simons produced “Night Catches Us” with Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie and Wendell Pierce, “Gun Hill Road” with Esai Morales and Judy Reyes, “Blue Caprice” starring Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond, and “George’s Mother”, with Danai Gurira.
Simons, who graduated from Columbia College, has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a master’s degree from the University of Washington, was a product manager at Microsoft when he decided to change his life and pursue a career in entertainment.
He began as an actor, appearing in regional theaters including Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Classical Theater of Harlem.
He was in the films “27 Dresses” and “Mystery Team,” as well as on the small screen in “The Resident,” “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: SVU.”
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