Alistair Browning obit

Award-winning Kiwi actor Alistair Browning dies after battle with cancer

 

He was not on the list.

An award-winning New Zealand actor has died after a long battle with cancer.

Alistair Browning, 65, was in palliative care at Palmerston North's ​Arohanui Hospice when he died in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Browning's career in theatre and film spanned more than four decades. He appeared in blockbusters such as Lord of The Rings, befriended David Bowie, and received seven awards for acting, including Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film at the 2001 New Zealand Film Awards, and one for directing.

Browning was best known internationally for his role as Damrod, one of the soldiers who capture Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and roles in TV shows Xena, Hercules, and Power Rangers.

But many Kiwis may know him from classic New Zealand soaps Gloss and Shortland Street in the 1980s and 1990s, or more recently the 2014 crime show The Brokenwood Mysteries and the TV movie Siege.

Siege was a dramatisation of the 2009 Napier standoff in which gunman Jan Molenaar holed up in his house for three days after a shootout with police.

Browning also tread the boards of almost every theatre in New Zealand, performing in classic works of famous playwrights from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller.

When David Bowie died in 2016, after his own 18-month struggle with cancer, Browning reminisced to Stuff about working with the mega-star musician.

They met in 1982 while filming Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, Browning's first feature film.

The pair, who were roughly the same age, clicked, becoming drinking buddies while working on scenes together in Rarotonga.

"We talked about art, music and books," Browning said.

"He was having trouble with writing his album at the time. One night he said to me 'f... art and let's dance'."

That album was Bowie's 15th studio album, Let's Dance, which was released the following year in 1983.

A friend and colleague Jennifer Ward-Lealand posted a Facebook message on behalf of Browning's sister Heather Browning, who thanked the Hospice staff for the care and support they provided her brother.

The family asked that friends, family or anyone who wished to show their support to make a donation to Arohanui Hospice in Browning's memory.

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