Winston Rekert, a versatile actor perhaps best known for his TV roles on Neon Rider and Adderly, passed away last Friday.

Born and raised in Vancouver, he died of cancer. He was 63.

Bill Millerd, the artistic managing director at Vancouver’s Arts Club, told The Vancouver Sun, “Winston was a ‘natural’ actor who followed his instincts.” Millerd continued, “He spoke from his heart and was always honest on stage. . . He was gruff and could be menacing, but if a moment didn’t feel right, he couldn’t do it.”

Rekert’s screen career began in the 1970s after he moved to Toronto and took roles in numerous indigenous and service productions.

Known for his chiseled good looks, Rekert rose to fame in the 1980s, staring as V.H. Adderly in the light-hearted spy thriller Adderly. That role would net him a Gemini Award for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Continuing Dramatic Role.

In 1985 he played alongside Jane Fonda, Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft in Norman Jewison’s Quebec-shot feature Agnes of God.

He went on to star in the popular CTV series Neon Rider, a show he created with Danny Virtue, a friend since childhood. On the air from 1990 to 1995, it revolved around Rekert’s Michael Terry, a Vancouver psychologist who helped hard-luck urban kids by exposing them to country life on a ranch in Mission, B.C.

The role led to him becoming the national spokesperson for charity Youth at Risk.

He would win another Gemini in 2003,  for Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series, for his work on  TV’s Blue Murder.

Later in his career he’d take roles in numerous B.C.-shot projects, including Cold Squad, Supernatural, Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica.

In 2009 he was included in the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s top ten list of leading actors of the previous 30 years.

Most recently, Rekert received the Union of B.C. Performers’ Sam Payne Lifetime Achievement Award in April.

He is survived by Lydia, his wife, Carson and Dylan, two adult sons, and Pat, their mother.