Maury Chaykin, Prolific Character Actor, Leaves Us Much Too Early

I've had to write up a few obits for this site and others in the past and I hate it every time: on Tuesday, July 27, prolific character actor Maury Chaykin died in Toronto at the age of 61. Among character actors working in entertainment over the past few decades Chaykin was a king. Not many performers in Tinseltown can boast to having worked on over 150 different film and TV projects over the course of the their career. If his breed of thespian is like a Swiss Army Knife then Chaykin was the model that's about six-inches wide. With a built-in chainsaw.
 
His curriculum vitae is ridiculously long, but highlights include: ornery hacker in WarGames; a thinly veiled Harvey Weinstein parody in Entourage; Major Fambrough in Dances With Wolves; and Sam Tipton, witness in My Cousin Vinny, among so many others. The header pic is from 1985's Def-Con 4, a Canadian post-apocalypse move that was one of Chaykin's starring roles. Rest in peace, man. The movies won't be the same without you.