Wellington actor and artist Grant Tilly, 74, succumbed to cancer Tuesday.

Having starred in many stage and television productions including Foreskin's Lament, Mr Tilly is known for being a "force of nature" as an actor who portrayed convincing roles.

Mr Tilly is well remembered for his solo performance in The Daylight Atheist, cartoonist and playwright Tom Scott's play based on his alcoholic father.

"Grant had a heavy drinking dad as well, another brilliant dad who never realised his potential, so Grant was able to capture the intelligence, anger and self-pity... He was like a force of nature on stage. Some of the best performances I have seen ... Grant at his best had no equal," Mr Scott told Dominion Post.

Mr Scott recalled with Dominion Post the first play he saw when he came to Wellington. He went to the old Star Boating Club and saw Mr Tilly in a production of Alpha Beta at Downstage.

"He was a very handsome young man and he was stunning. There was a line in the play when somebody said, 'He was too young to die' and Grant's response was, 'You're never too young to die'. I remember that line and the way Grant delivered it. God he was good, he gave me goosebumps."

Actor and director Sue Wilson, who appeared in many productions with Tilly, as well as working alongside him as a councillor at

Mr Tilly co-founded and designed Circa Theatre, the professional theatre company, in 1976. He designed the theatre twice: when it was first established in the old Ilott building and when it moved near Te Papa.

Mr Tilly was diagnosed with prostate and kidney cancer in 2005 and had been bedridden since January. He had three sons with his first wife Fay and a daughter with his second wife Ruth. His remains will be buried on Monday.