Actor Robert Prosky dies at 77

WASHINGTON -- Robert Prosky, a character actor with hundreds of credits on stage and screen including "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Hill Street Blues," has died in a Washington hospital. He was 77.

His oldest son, Stefan Prosky, said the actor died Monday night of complications from a heart procedure.

"He went gracefully last night, not in pain," Stefan Prosky said Tuesday. "Everybody knows him as a fairly famous actor. My brothers and I know him as a marvelous father."

Prosky appeared in more than 200 plays on Broadway and with Arena Stage, a regional theater company in Washington. He appeared in 38 films and numerous television shows.

On Broadway, Prosky's credits included "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "A View from the Bridge." He also completed a long run in Michael Frayn's play "Democracy."

In the 1980s, Prosky spent three years on the NBC television series "Hill Street Blues" as a police sergeant. He later appeared as a priest on trial for murder in ABC's legal drama, "The Practice."

In "Mrs. Doubtfire," Prosky played the TV station owner who hired Robin Williams, who dressed as a nanny. His other film credits include "Dead Man Walking" and "The Natural."