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EDMONTON - Actor-director Kevin Costner is remembering his late "Dances With Wolves" co-star Maury Chaykin as "a really, really wonderful actor."

Costner won Oscars for producing and directing the movie about a U.S. army lieutenant who comes to live with a group of Lakota Indians during the Civil War.

Chaykin, who died this week at the age of 61, had a small but well-received role as a slightly fey, insane major who presents Costner's Lt. John Dunbar with his marching orders, then stands and declares: "I have pissed in my pants, and nobody can do anything about it."

Costner recalled the performance as "eccentric."

"He was so inventive and he folded up that little order into the tiniest little piece," said Costner. "He really stole the show with that scene, he was so fabulous."

Costner had originally thought of casting Marlon Brando in the part, but as a first-time director was worried about Brando's notorious behaviour on film sets.

"I only had so much money and I thought, 'well, what if Marlon won't come out of the dressing room? What would I say to him?'

"This young actor came in and I just really liked him so much. It was Maury. We went off into the dressing room and we began to rehearse together and I thought, 'this guy is a really, really wonderful actor.' "

Chaykin died last Tuesday in Toronto. He had a long and rich career as a character actor in both films and television, most recently in the quirky Winnipeg-based comedy "Less Than Kind."

He won a Genie award for best actor for 1994's "Whale Music," playing a reclusive former rock star who begins to reconnect with people after finding a mysterious young woman in his living room.