A funeral will be held Friday for Al Waxman, best known as TV's King of Kensington. Waxman died Wednesday following what was described as routine heart surgery. He was 65 years old.

Waxman's wife Sara said Thursday the surgery was successful but her husband's heart did not respond afterward as it should have, despite doctors' efforts.

Waxman was born in Toronto and made his acting debut as a teenager in live radio dramas. After trying his hand in New York and London, Waxman returned to Toronto and in 1974, won the lead role on the highly successful show, King of Kensington.

The show ran for five seasons and helped Waxman land a number of Hollywood films.

Waxman found success on the U.S. TV dramas, Cagney and Lacey and his work currently appears on the show Twice in a Lifetime, which airs on CTV.

Waxman suffered a major heart attack in 1987 and underwent angioplasty. He was soon back at work, finding film roles, including At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story and the role of Willy Loman in the Stratford Festival's Death Of A Salesman.

In 1999, Waxman appeared in The Hurricane starring Denzel Washington and last year directed The Diary of Anne Frank at Stratford. He was to play Shylock in this year's production of the Merchant of Venice at the festival.

Waxman was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 1997, received Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee Medal, and a Gemini in 1997 for the TV hockey drama, Net Worth.

In 1999, he published his autobiography, That's What I Am and told Canada AM's Valerie Pringle that writing the book helped put my life in perspective.

And as I'm not anywhere near through, I'm able to take that perspective with me into the future.

Waxman leaves a wife, a daughter and a son. A funeral is planned for Friday.