BODY POLITIC

There are combinations universally recognized as inherently deadly--a child with a gun, a second lieutenant with a map. But for actor Ron Silver, few menaces compare to a Hollywood celebrity with a cause.

“In the entertainment community, there’s a surplus of passion that’s usually inversely proportionate to the amount of knowledge that people have about the issues,” says the 45-year-old Lower East Side native who played Harvard professor Allan Dershowitz in the acclaimed film “Reversal of Fortune.”

To offer entertainers a firmer grasp of the issues, Silver founded a nonprofit organization called the Creative Coalition. Based in New York, the 3-year-old, 300-strong group--members include Alec Baldwin, Christopher Reeve, Susan Sarandon, Kathleen Turner, Robin Williams and Jessica Tandy--sponsors monthly seminars and debates on issues such as health care, abortion and homelessness. In November, Silver, the coalition’s elected president, launched its Los Angeles chapter.

Silver isn’t out to dispose of his membership’s generally liberal-progressive slant on world affairs, but he does want members to examine a cause carefully before adopting it.

“In California, many entertainers were passionately involved in Central American affairs,” he says. “I don’t agree or disagree with their approach, but they didn’t go through the process I would hope (they would) go through. They didn’t hear from the Administration or other groups that I would have liked to have heard from before making a commitment. The Creative Coalition wants to hear all the relevant information, regardless of how unpleasant it may be.”

In Hollywood? C’mon.