Ron Simons, Four-Time Tony-Winning Producer, Dies at 63

Ron Simons, a four-time Tony-winning actor and producer, died on June 13. His death was confirmed by his production company, SimonSays Entertainment. The cause of death and surviving family members were unspecified. He was 63.

“We are heartbroken to learn of our friend and former trustee Ron Simons’ passing,” Classical Theatre of Harlem said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with his family. Ron has left behind an unmatched legacy on Broadway and beyond. We will always remember his kindness and incredible talent that inspired so many.”

Simons was born November 30, 1960, in Detroit, MI. Despite being an aspiring actor from a young age, he embarked on a career in software engineering, feeling the pressure, he said in an interview in 2017, to be “the family breadwinner.” He later attended Columbia Business School and obtained an MFA in marketing and international business.

After stints working for Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft in California, he returned to his acting dreams at the age of 39, obtaining an MFA in acting from the University of Washington, graduating in 2001. He went on to perform in regional theaters including Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and, moving to New York, joined the Classical Theatre of Harlem as a company member. While continuing to play minor roles in television and film, Simons took up producing, founding SimonSays Entertainment in 2009 with the mission of telling stories from underrepresented communities; the company’s tagline is “Tell Every Story.”

“[G]iven the current political climate it’s more important than ever that we tell all our stories and celebrate the diversity of our culture,” he said, “and remind ourselves that it’s through the diverse fabric in our society where we find our greatest strength as community.”

Simons’ first producer credit was for the 2010 film Night Catches Us, starring Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie. Going forward, Simons increasingly focused on Broadway, producing The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (2012, Tony winner), A Streetcar Named Desire (2012), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (2013, Tony winner), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2013, Tony winner), Jitney (2017, Tony winner) Ain’t Too Proud (2019), Thoughts of a Colored Man (2021) and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf (2022). Thoughts of a Colored Man was notable for being the first Broadway production to star and be written, directed and lead-produced by Black artists. Simons was also a four-time Sundance Film Festival-selected producer.

After small screen roles in 27 Dresses, Law and Order and others, Simons landed his first recurring television acting role in 2017, starring in three episodes of Marvel’s The Defenders.

“Ron Simons was simply the best,” Rochelle Riley, the Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit, wrote on X. “Broadway, the nation and Detroit, where he grew up, have lost a giant.”