Māori actor Pete Smith has died at the age of 63, his son has shared
Pete Smith has died at the age of 63.
The Māori actor – who has starred in Lord of the Rings, Once Were Warriors and The Piano – passed way on Sunday, local reports have told.
His son Poumau Papali’i-Smith told New Zealand outlet Stuff his father had been battling kidney issues for a long time.
“For the last seven years, he’d been on dialysis which took its toll on him over the years. Within the last two years he was also diagnosed with dementia,” he said.
“We started doing dialysis at home but over the last few weeks he suffered an infection which he fought for the last four weeks.”
Father-of-six Pete worked on several big films including Uncle Dooley, alongside Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis.
Big New Zealand films he worked on were The Piano, and he also featured as an Orc in Sir Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
TV credits on his CV included Smith also starred in several television shows, including Plainclothes, Shortland Street, Greenstone , and Mataku.
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Pete was awarded for his performance in the drama Flight of the Albatross in 1982.
He also won Best Performance by a Supporting Actor at the Air New Zealand Screen Awards for his role in The Market in 2006.
Another gong he picked up was for Best Performance by a supporting actor at the Screen Awards in 2005 for drama series The Market.
Pete is survived by his six children and wife Mona Papali’i.
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