'West Wing' and 'Cheers' actor Robert Rees dies

New York: Roger Rees, the Tony Award-winning actor who appeared in "The West Wing" and "Cheers," has died at 71, his agent said.

Rees died at his home in New York city Friday after a brief illness, his agent Rick Miramontez told AFP.

Born in Wales in 1944, Rees´s performing career began on the stage, where he went on to win a 1982 best actor Tony for his role in the theatrical adaptation of Charles Dickens´s "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby."

Known to many from "The West Wing," where he played the high-strung British ambassador in the popular Washington series, Rees also played a snooty British businessman on the hit 1980s comedy series "Cheers."

Rees garnered widespread recognition for his role as Sheriff of Rottingham in the 1993 Mel Brooks comedy, "Robin Hood: Men in Tights."
More recent credits include roles in US television shows "Elementary" and "The Good Wife."

Members of the acting community and fans paid tribute to Rees on social media.

"RIP #RogerRees - a lovely, generous & kind man & an heroic & passionate actor. We all fell in love with him in #NicholasNickleby," the choreographer Matthew Bourne wrote on Twitter.