Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-Canadian actor died of kidney failure he was 61. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.[1] | (July 27, 1949 – July 27, 2010) |
Personal life
Chaykin was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Irving J. Chaykin (1912–2007), was born in Brooklyn, and was a professor of accountancy at City College of New York.[2] His mother, Clarice Chaykin (née Bloomfield), was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but raised in Montreal, Quebec since the age of three. She graduated from Beth Israel Hospital nursing school in Newark, New Jersey.[3] Chaykin's maternal uncle, George Bloomfield, is a Canadian writer/director/producer.
Raised in New York City, Chaykin studied drama at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He subsequently moved to Toronto, Ontario, where he resided until his death. He was married to Canadian actress Susannah Hoffmann, with whom he had one daughter, Rose. Best known for having played Jen Pringle in the Anne of Avonlea series, Hoffmann had a supporting role in a 2002 episode of the television series, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, in which Chaykin starred.
Death
Maury Chaykin died in Toronto on July 27, 2010, his 61st birthday, from complications of a heart valve infection.[4]
Career
Chaykin was known for portrayals of blustery supporting characters. One of his rare leading roles was Nero Wolfe. Chaykin first played the legendary detective in The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2000), an A&E telefilm adaptation of the 1953 novel by Rex Stout. Timothy Hutton costarred in the production as Archie Goodwin. The New York Times reported Chaykin's "undisguised delight" at starring in the promotion for The Golden Spiders: "There's an extraordinary billboard up on Sunset Boulevard right now, with a humongous photograph of my face. ... I drive by it constantly, back and forth, back and forth."[5] The original movie's success led to the weekly series, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, which played for two seasons on A&E and continues to air internationally. Chaykin and Hutton had worked together previously, albeit briefly, in the 1985 film Turk 182; and they worked together subsequently, in the 2006 film Heavens Fall.
Chaykin had his first starring role in Whale Music, a 1994 film in which he played a burned-out rock star, a character based largely on Brian Wilson. Chaykin was named Best Actor at the 15th Genie Awards for his portrayal.
Two of Chaykin's early motion picture roles brought him public recognition: computer programmer Jim Sting in WarGames and prosecution witness Sam Tipton in My Cousin Vinny. Chaykin also had roles on the television series Seeing Things and Emily of New Moon as well as a recurring role as the intergalactic gourmand Nerus (a nod to Nero Wolfe)[6] in Stargate SG-1. In 1990, he had a small but pivotal role in the film Dances with Wolves, portraying Major Fambrough.
Chaykin portrayed the colorful bookie Frank Perlin opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman's compulsive gambler Dan Mahowny in Owning Mahowny, a film that critic Roger Ebert named as one of the ten best of 2003. In 2006, Chaykin appeared in an episode of the Ken Finkleman miniseries, At the Hotel, and received a Gemini Award for best performance by an actor in a guest role. He had a semi-recurring role in the HBO series Entourage, as volatile movie producer Harvey Weingard, a send-up of the celebrated producer Harvey Weinstein. He also appeared as Stan Deane, father of Kevin Zegers' character Woody Deane, in the 2006 romantic comedy It's a Boy Girl Thing.[citation needed]
To celebrate the first 30 years of his career, the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film presented Chaykin with its Career So Far Award in 2006. Chaykin spoke to the Toronto Star about the honor[7]:
| “ | I got this strange call from Chlotrudis ... I thought it was a disease. It's a society for independent film and they said, "We're giving you The Career So Far Award. Not The Lifetime Achievement Award. We hope you will do a lot more indie films." They want to fly me down to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Last year's winner was Philip Seymour Hoffman. I looked up their website and they are legit. Nero Wolfe raised orchids. Maybe he had a rare form of Chlotrudis. | ” |
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Me | ||
| 1978 | King of Kensington (TV series) | "Polyfur" | |
| 1980 | Double Negative | Rollins | |
| Jimmy B. and André | Bruno | ||
| Nothing Personal | Kanook | ||
| The Kidnapping of the President | Harvey Cannon | ||
| 1981 | The July Group | Harvey | |
| Death Hunt | Clarence | ||
| Just Jessie | Joey Harper | ||
| 1982 | Soup for One | Wexler | |
| Highpoint | Falco | ||
| 1982–1986 | Seeing Things (TV series) | Randall Jackson | "Evil Eye" (1982) "I'm Looking Through You" (1984) "Defective Vision" (1986) "Optical Illusion" (1986) |
| 1983 | Overdrawn at the Memory Bank | Gondol | |
| ABC Weekend Special (TV series) | Mousey | "Horatio Alger Updated: Frank and Fearless" | |
| Curtains | Monty | ||
| WarGames | Jim Sting | ||
| Of Unknown Origin | Dan Errol | ||
| 1984 | Hockey Night | Bum Johnston | |
| Harry & Son | Lawrence | ||
| The Guardian | Rudy Simbro | ||
| Mrs. Soffel | Guard Charlie Reynolds | ||
| 1985 | The Suicide Murders | Sid | |
| Turk 182 | Man in Wheelchair | ||
| Def-Con 4 | Vinny | ||
| In Like Flynn | Williams | ||
| Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks | Harold Chamberlain Banks | ||
| 1986 | Meatballs III: Summer Job | Huey, River Rat Leader | |
| The Vindicator | Burt Arthurs | ||
| Act of Vengeance | Claude Vealey | ||
| Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (TV series) | Lt. Copernik | "Red Wind" | |
| Night Heat (TV series) | Mallory Merle Marlowe | "Dead Ringer" "Body Conscious" | |
| Crime Story (TV series) | Steven Kordo | "Crime Pays" | |
| 1987 | Adderly (TV series) | Russian Agent | "Requiem" |
| Higher Education | Guido | ||
| Future Block | |||
| The Bedroom Window | Pool Player | ||
| Wild Thing | Jonathan Trask | ||
| Race for the Bomb (TV miniseries) | General Leslie Groves | ||
| Nowhere to Hide | Marchais | ||
| Diamonds (TV series) | Murray Wolf | "Here Comes the Bride" | |
| Hearts of Fire | Charlie Kelso | ||
| Caribe | Captain Burdoch | ||
| 1988 | Stars and Bars | Freeborn Gage | |
| Hot Paint | Wilensky | ||
| Iron Eagle II | Sgt. Downs | ||
| Twins | Burt Klane | ||
| 1989 | Cold Comfort | Floyd Lucas | |
| The Twilight Zone (TV series) | James L. "Fats" Brown | "A Game of Pool" | |
| George's Island | Mr. Droonfield | ||
| Millennium | Roger Keane | ||
| Breaking In | Vincent Tucci | ||
| 1990 | Labor of Love | ||
| Where the Heart Is | Harry | ||
| Street Legal (TV series) | Ben Tochet | "Holy Thursday" "Spare Parts" | |
| Mr. Destiny | Guzelman | ||
| Dances with Wolves | Major Fambrough | ||
| 1991 | The Pianist | Cody | |
| Montréal vu par... | "En passant" (segment) | ||
| The Adjuster | Bubba | ||
| Conspiracy of Silence | D'Arcy Bancroft | ||
| 1992 | Split Images | Walter Kouza | |
| My Cousin Vinny | Sam Tipton | ||
| Leaving Normal | Leon "Crazy-As" Pendleton | ||
| Buried on Sunday | Dexter Lexcannon | ||
| Hero | Winston, Bernie's Landlord | ||
| 1993 | Sommersby | Lawyer Dawson | |
| Matrix (TV series) | Lionel Meeks/Charles Meeks | "A Madness to His Method" | |
| Money for Nothing | Vincente Goldoni | ||
| Josh and S.A.M. | Pizza Man | ||
| Beethoven's 2nd | Cliff Klamath | ||
| 1994 | Transplant | ||
| Exotica | uncredited | ||
| Whale Music | Desmond Howl | Genie Award | |
| Camilla | Harold Cara | ||
| 1995 | Unstrung Heroes | Arthur Lidz | |
| Devil in a Blue Dress | Matthew Terell | ||
| Sugartime | Tony Accardo | ||
| Cutthroat Island | John Reed | ||
| 1996 | If Looks Could Kill | Dr. Richard Boggs | |
| 1997 | Keeping the Promise | Ben Loomis | |
| La Femme Nikita (TV series) | Rudy | "Innocent" — Gemini Award | |
| Love and Death on Long Island | Irving Buckmuller | ||
| The Sweet Hereafter | Wendell Walker | ||
| Gone Fishin' | Kirk, Waiter | uncredited | |
| Strip Search | Tomas | ||
| Northern Lights | Ben Rubadue | ||
| Pale Saints | The Pirate | ||
| A Life Less Ordinary | Tod Johnson | ||
| MouseHunt | Alexander Falko | ||
| 1997–1998 | Due South (TV series) | Pike Jasper Gutman | "Spy vs. Spy" (1997) "Mojo Rising" (1998) |
| 1998 | Death by Dawn | ||
| Tracey Takes On... (TV series) | Kurt Rasmussen | "Marriage" | |
| Emily of New Moon (TV series) | Lofty John | ||
| Jerry and Tom | Billy | ||
| The Mask of Zorro | Prison Warden | ||
| Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal (TV series) | Dr. Bob Dalhousie | "Harlequin" | |
| 1999 | Let the Devil Wear Black | Bruce | |
| Lexx (TV series) | Pa Gollean | "Love Grows" "White Trash" | |
| Entrapment | Conrad Greene | ||
| Joan of Arc (TV miniseries) | Sir Robert de Baudricourt | ||
| Touched | Bert | ||
| Mystery, Alaska | Bailey Pruitt | ||
| Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang | Mr. Cooper/Louie Loser | ||
| Made in Canada (TV series) | Captain McGee | "For the Children" | |
| 2000 | What's Cooking? | Herbie Seelig | |
| The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (TV) | Nero Wolfe | ||
| The Art of War | Frank Capella | ||
| 2001 | Bartleby | Ernest | |
| Varian's War | Marcello | ||
| Plan B | Donald Rossi | ||
| On Their Knees | Norman | ||
| 2001–2002 | A Nero Wolfe Mystery (TV series) | Nero Wolfe | |
| 2002 | Crossed Over | Ethan Lowry | |
| Bleacher Bums | Scorekeeper Billy | ||
| Past Perfect | Chuck | ||
| The Wet Season | Uncle Rick | ||
| Hostage | The Kidnapper | ||
| Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales | Dan Weisman | ||
| 2003 | Owning Mahowny | Frank Perlin | |
| Andromeda (TV) | Citizen Eight | "Pieces of Eight" | |
| 2004 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV series) | Joseph Greene/Joe Landers | "No More Bets" |
| Intern Academy | Dr. Roger "Tony" Toussant | ||
| Sugar | Stanley | ||
| The Eleventh Hour (TV series) | Dr. Jackson | "The Revenge Specialist" | |
| Being Julia | Walter Gibbs | ||
| Wilby Wonderful | Mayor Brent Fisher | ||
| Sex Traffic | Ernie Dwight | ||
| 2005 | Where the Truth Lies | Sally Sanmarco | |
| The Hunt for the BTK Killer | Robert Beattie | ||
| 2005–2006 | Stargate SG-1 (TV series) | Nerus | "Beachhead" (2005) "Off the Grid" (2006) |
| 2005–2007 | Entourage (TV series) | Harvey Weingard | "The Sundance Kids" (2005) "Malibooty" (2007) "Sorry, Harvey" (2007) "The Cannes Kids" (2007) |
| 2006 | Boston Legal (TV series) | Ryan Myerson | "Live Big" |
| At the Hotel (TV series) | Jerry Mitchell | "The Perfect Couple" — Gemini Award | |
| Trailer Park Boys (TV series) | Chief of Police | "Gimme My Fuckin Money or Randy's Dead" | |
| Eureka (TV series) | Sheriff William Cobb | Pilot | |
| Heavens Fall | Lyle Harris | ||
| It's a Boy Girl Thing | Stan Deane | ||
| 2007 | Superstorm (TV miniseries) | Senator Wallace | |
| Elijah | Premier Howard Pawley | ||
| 2008 | Hooked on Speedman | Dietrich Baum | |
| Production Office | Shelly | ||
| The Grift | Rusty | ||
| Blindness | Accountant | ||
| Adoration | |||
| Glitch | Mr. Linkletter | ||
| Bull | Roland Gow | ||
| Murder on Her Mind | John Emory | ||
| 2008–2010 | Less Than Kind (TV series) | Sam Blecher | |
| 2009 | Cooking with Stella | H. E. Mr. Durand | |
| Abroad | Lord Oldenberg | ||
| 2010 | Barney's Version | John Emory | |
| Casino Jack | Big Tony | ||
| The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour | Doctor Funtime |
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