TORONTO - Actress Cayle Chernin, best known for appearing in the seminal Canadian road movie, "Goin' Down the Road," has died. She was 63.
Film producer Robin Cass says Chernin died Friday.
Chernin had been preparing for a return to the spotlight with "Down the Road Again," a sequel to the 1970 road movie about two down-on-their-luck Nova Scotians who head to Toronto looking for work.
Earlier this month, friend and "Goin' Down the Road" co-star Jayne Eastwood said Chernin was diagnosed in June with advanced ovarian cancer.
Eastwood said Chernin kept her illness secret while filming took place in October and didn't tell castmates until shooting wrapped that she was sick.
Eastwood also said Chernin was the one who persuaded original director Don Shebib to revisit his iconic characters with another film.
"It was her who convinced Don Shebib to make this movie," Eastwood said. "This was her baby and she was going to do this movie come hell or high water."
Eastwood said Chernin was energetic and enthusiastic during filming, and was so dedicated to the project she delayed traditional cancer treatments so she could work.
"The doctors were screaming at her, they said, 'Do you know what you've done? You will go faster.' And she said, 'I want to spend my last months the way I want to spend them and I want to do "Down the Road Again","' said Eastwood.
The original film featured Doug McGrath and the late Paul Bradley, who died in 2003, as the jobless duo Pete and Joey.
Eastwood played Joey's flame Betty, while Chernin played Betty's best friend, Selina.
"Down the Road Again" picks up the story in Vancouver, with Pete as a retired postman and Joey gravely ill.
Shebib has said he expects the film to be released later this year.
