Actor Robert Prosky dies

Robert Prosky, a character actor with hundreds of credits on stage and screen including Mrs Doubtfire and Hill Street Blues, has died in a Washington hospital. He was 77.

His oldest son, Stefan Prosky, said the actor died on Monday night of complications from a heart procedure.

"He went gracefully last night, not in pain," Stefan Prosky said. "Everybody knows him as a fairly famous actor. My brothers and I know him as a marvellous father."

Prosky appeared in more than 200 plays on Broadway and with Arena Stage, a regional theatre company in Washington. He appeared in 38 films and numerous television shows.

On Broadway, Prosky's credits included Glengarry Glen Ross and A View from the Bridge. He also completed a long run in Michael Frayn's play Democracy.

In the 1980s, Prosky spent three years on the NBC television series Hill Street Blues as a police sergeant. He later appeared as a priest on trial for murder in ABC's legal drama, The Practice. In Mrs Doubtfire, Prosky played the TV station owner who hired Robin Williams, who dressed as a nanny. His other film credits include Dead Man Walking and The Natural.