Celebrated character actor Maury Chaykin, whose storied career began on Canadian television in the 1970s, died Tuesday, his birthday, at age 61.

The actor's agent, Paul Hemrend, said Chaykin died at Toronto General Hospital with his family by his side.

Actor Mark McKinney, who serves as a story editor on "Less Than Kind," the HBO Canada series in which Chaykin starred, said the actor died after battling kidney problems.

McKinney said the show's cast members, who believed Chaykin was recovering, were devastated by the news.

"The last time I saw him he was looking great, considering, and looking forward to doing the (upcoming) season with us," said McKinney, who spoke with Chaykin a few weeks ago.

"He wasn't ailing, he'd had a dip, definitely, but you only have to take a look at the first episode he shot with us in season two (to see how well he was)."

Chaykin's illness was written into the show.

"We had him laid up in hospital and he was fantastic, he hadn't lost a step as an actor, at all, and we were really looking forward to seeing him again this year."

Chaykin was born in 1949 in New York to a Canadian mother and American father, and moved to Toronto in the 1970s after graduating from college.

While Chaykin was perhaps best known for starring in the 1994 film "Whale Music," in which he portrayed an aging rock star based on former Beach Boy Brian Wilson, he appeared in a number of Canadian and American hit shows and movies during a career that spanned more than 35 years.

His career began on "The King of Kensington," and roles on a number of Canadian series soon followed, including "Seeing Things" and "Night Heat."

He appeared in American blockbuster films such as "Dances with Wolves" and "My Cousin Vinny," and made numerous appearances in recent years on American television in "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and as a blustering movie studio executive in "Entourage."

He also played the title character in the A&E series "A Nero Wolfe Mystery," one of his rare leading-man roles.

Chaykin took home the best actor Genie for "Whale Music" and won Gemini Awards for guest-starring roles on "La Femme Nikita" in 1998 and "At the Hotel" in 2006.

"Whale Music" director Richard Lewis said Chaykin was clearly unwell when he arrived on set to shoot scenes for Lewis's latest feature, "Barney's Version," based on the novel by Mordecai Richler.

"We shot a day with him, maybe even two days with him ... and then I had a long discussion with him in which I had said, 'I don't think that you are capable of, in terms of mobility, in terms of your overall health, of playing this part,' Lewis said. "And so we replaced him in this part but because we had shot two days already of him at the Ritz Carlton, we were able to make a wonderful moment of him at the wedding (scene), which is on the film and which I'm so glad he is a part of."

Robert Lantos, who produced both "Whale Music" and "Barney's Version," called Chaykin "one of the greatest character actors in the world."

"He made a gourmet feast of every moment he was on screen, creating unforgettable characters who he pushed far beyond the writing on the page," Lantos said in a statement.

"The refrain that for a great actor 'no part is too small,' must have been coined with him in mind."

Norm Wilner, film critic for Toronto's Now Magazine, said Chaykin could bring depth and complexity to the smallest of roles.

"He always managed to make something unique," Wilner told CTV News Channel Tuesday evening. "And you get the sense that he was cast because if the role was sort of flat on the page … they would cast him to give it a little bit of extra life to it and he would give you the sense that these characters were individuals that existed beyond the film frame."

In 2008, Chaykin talked to CP about his role on "Less Than Kind" of a Winnipeg father battling diabetes while struggling to operate a driving school.

"It comes from pain of the heart, it comes from desire, it comes from wanting to do the right thing and not really being able to," Chaykin said.

"The pain of that, of wanting to be a good father, of wanting to be a good mother, and not being able to or not knowing quite how to, but trying and not giving up. Being relentless.

"That's where the joy of the show lies and it is a joyful show, it has a lot of pain in it, a lot of laughs."

McKinney called Chaykin "one of our greatest actors."

"Maury's an actor of unparalleled gifts, you cannot learn what he had in spades -- you could study for 1,000 years," McKinney said. "He had an incredible gift, an instant quickness."

Chaykin is survived by his wife, actress Susannah Hoffmann, and their daughter Rose.

With files from The Canadian Press