Actor Marshall Napier, best known for his roles in TV’s McLeod’s Daughters and Police Rescue has died.

His daughter Jessica Napier, also an actor, confirmed the New Zealand actor’s death in a post on Instagram.

“It is with great sadness that I share the passing of my beautiful dad Marshall Napier. After a short and intense battle with brain cancer he left us this morning. He was peaceful and surrounded by family,” she wrote late on Sunday.

“Dad you are one of a kind and I can’t even understand what the world will be like without you in it. Your charisma and charm was second to none. Your creativity and intellect was my inspiration. I love you so much and feel completely lost without you. I’m glad that you can soar free of the pain and confusion. Love you always.”

Napier, who was 70, had a varied state and screen career on both sides of the Tasman, after starting at Wellington’s Downstage Theatre.

His first TV role came in the mid-1970s.

Tweet from @DanMacPherson

After moving to Australia with his family in the 1980s, he was also a feature in Police Rescue, and McLeod’s Daughters alongside his daughter.

The father and daughter’s McLeod’s Daughters co-star Rodger Corser was among the first to pay tribute. He remembered Napier’s “commanding presence” on screen and stage.

“Always loved working with your Dad, a drier wit you could not find. He will be greatly missed by all of his peers,” Corser wrote.

Another NZ expat actor, Erik Thomson, wrote that Napier was an “inspiration to so many”.

“I am so sorry. What a man. This is big . He was such an inspiration to so many. Please wrap yourself and your family in a massive hug from us. V sad,” he wrote on Jessica Napier’s post.

Other tributes came from actors Rachel Griffiths, Nash Edgerton and Charlie Clausen.

“I loved working with your dad. He was so generous with his time when I was just starting out in my career. He also had such a great sense of humour,” Clausen wrote.

Napier senior’s other TV credits included Love Child, Rake, Jack Irish, All Saints, Water Rats, Janet King, Doctor Doctor, City Homicide, Stingers, Blue Heelers, Twisted Tales, Blue Murder, Snowy River: The McGregor Saga and The Girl from Tomorrow.

His film credits included Came a Hot Friday, Footrot Flats, Bellbird, Northspur, Goodbye Pork Pie, Babe, Down Under, The Light Between Oceans, Little Monsters, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, In a Savage Land and Bad Blood.

Napier was also a regular on the local theatre scene. In 2017, he starred in The Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Present with Cate Blanchett.

-with agencies