Actor. A portly, versatile character performer, he is probably best remembered as the cerebral private detective "Nero Wolfe" from the early 2000s A&E television series. Raised in New York City, he studied drama at the State University of New York, Buffalo, then moved to Toronto. Chaykin made his motion picture debut with "Me" (1975) and over the course of his career amassed a long string of movie and television credits, including the films "War Games" (1983), "Iron Eagle II (1988), and "My Cousin Vinny" (1992). He had the small but crucial part of the insane Major Fambrough in the Oscar-winning "Dances With Wolves" (1990). Chaykin won a Best Actor award at the 15th Genie Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Oscars) for his starring turn in 1994's "Whale Music" as a character based on rocker Brian Wilson. In 2000, he was selected to portray Rex Stout's orchid-growing eccentric fat genius Nero Wolfe, with Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin and Bill Smitrovich as Inspector Cramer, in "The Golden Spiders" on A&E, with the show's sucess success leading to a weekly series which ran for the next two seasons. He subsequently earned praise for "Owning Mahowny" (2003), garnered a Gemini Award for 2006's "At the Hotel", and had a recurring role as studio executive Harvey Weingard on HBO's "Entourage". At his death from chronic renal disease, Chaykin was continuing to work, and "Nero Wolfe" was still in syndication.
Actor. A portly, versatile character performer, he is probably best remembered as the cerebral private detective "Nero Wolfe" from the early 2000s A&E television series. Raised in New York City, he studied drama at the State University of New York, Buffalo, then moved to Toronto. Chaykin made his motion picture debut with "Me" (1975) and over the course of his career amassed a long string of movie and television credits, including the films "War Games" (1983), "Iron Eagle II (1988), and "My Cousin Vinny" (1992). He had the small but crucial part of the insane Major Fambrough in the Oscar-winning "Dances With Wolves" (1990). Chaykin won a Best Actor award at the 15th Genie Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Oscars) for his starring turn in 1994's "Whale Music" as a character based on rocker Brian Wilson. In 2000, he was selected to portray Rex Stout's orchid-growing eccentric fat genius Nero Wolfe, with Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin and Bill Smitrovich as Inspector Cramer, in "The Golden Spiders" on A&E, with the show's sucess success leading to a weekly series which ran for the next two seasons. He subsequently earned praise for "Owning Mahowny" (2003), garnered a Gemini Award for 2006's "At the Hotel", and had a recurring role as studio executive Harvey Weingard on HBO's "Entourage". At his death from chronic renal disease, Chaykin was continuing to work, and "Nero Wolfe" was still in syndication.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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