Australian treasurer Joe Hockey has eulogised entertainer Stuart Wagstaff as a debonair and charming man who regularly contributed to the Liberal Party's arts policies.
The English-born actor died in a Sydney hospital at the age of 90 on Tuesday night.
"Stuart was very supportive of me as his local Member of Parliament," Hockey said in a statement on Wednesday.
"He often gave me advice that assisted the Coalition with the development of policies for the arts."
Hockey said Wagstaff exemplified a special generation of Australians with his elegance and decency on and off the screen and stage.
"I will miss him, as will many across our community."
Wagstaff moved to Australia in 1958 and made his mark in the theatre, appearing in the original My Fair Lady production for four-and-a-half years, and later as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music.
He became a household name in the 1970s as he hit Australian television screens, hosting a number of current affairs and variety TV shows, and appearing as a regular panellist on Celebrity Squares and Blankety Blanks.
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