Entertainment

Prolific Canadian actor Kenneth Welsh dead at 80

Canadian actor Kenneth Welsh has died after a decades-long career on stage, television and the big screen.

Welsh's decades-long career saw him play many memorable roles on stage, TV and the big screen

Actor Kenneth Welsh is seen appearing on CBC's Midday in 1988. Welsh has died at the age of 80. (Midday/CBC)

Prolific Canadian actor Kenneth Welsh has died after a decades-long career on stage, television and the big screen. He was 80.

Pam Winter, a partner at Toronto's Gary Goddard Agency, said Welsh "passed peacefully last evening surrounded by those closest to him."

ACTRA Toronto called the Edmonton-born Welsh "one of Canada's all-time great performers, with hundreds of memorable roles spanning decades."

The actors' union added: "He will be greatly missed. Our condolences to his loved ones."

In 1988, Welsh dropped by CBC's Midday and talked about the varied work he'd done in his career and his ability to play any friend or foe in a script.

"I go back and forth between playing cops and robbers," Welsh told Midday, summing up the range of roles he stepped into at times.

On TV, Welsh appeared on series as varied as Twin Peaks, Mr. D, The X-Files and Star Trek: Discovery.

His big-screen credits included roles in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, a Crocodile Dundee sequel, and Roland Emmerich's big-budget sci-fi disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow.