Maury Chaykin (July 27, 1949 - July 27, 2010) Video

Maury Chaykin, the prolific and award-winning actor recently seen in the hit TV comedy Less Than Kind, has died. The veteran actor died in Toronto early Tuesday, his 61st birthday, his agent Paul Hemrend told CBC News. Chaykin, born in Brooklyn, NY, to an American father and Canadian mother, studied drama at the State University of New York in Buffalo. He moved to Toronto to join the theatre scene in the mid-1970s, and the city would remain his base for the rest of his life. Ferne Downey, national president of the actors union ACTRA, hailed Chaykin for his contribution to Canadian film and TV on Tuesday. "Maury was an infinitely gifted actor who has left us an incomparable body of work that will be cherished for many generations to come," she said. "We will miss his passion for his craft and his love and commitment to building our Canadian industry." A journeyman actor with more than 120 credits, Chaykin regularly appeared in the films of Atom Egoyan (Adoration, Where the Truth Lies, The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, The Adjuster) and Don McKellar (Cooking with Stella, Blindness ). Other prominent appearances include Whale Music, Dances with Wolves and TV film Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks. He played the titular detective in a Nero Wolfe series and appeared in Entourage in a notable send-up of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. In Whale Music, based on the novel by Canadian Paul Quarrington, who died earlier this year, Chaykin played the washed-up rock star who ...