Actor Cliff Curtis has shared his devastation following the death of his uncle and mentor, Sir Toby Curtis.

Taa Toby, a kaumātua and rangatira of Te Arawa, died on Wednesday at the age of 82.

His tangihanga began at Lake Rotoiti yesterday and will continue through the weekend.

Cliff Curtis was among the whānau pallbearers who carried Taa Toby through the wet and wind into the shelter of the wharenui at Tapuaekura Marae.

Curtis later sat down in the wharekai with the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend to talk about his love and admiration for the man who stopped correcting people when they asked about his "son", Cliff.

"Firstly, he was my uncle. He is a legend."

He described his uncle's death as a "devastating loss" and said he was irreplaceable.

Rotorua-born Curtis is one of New Zealand's most successful film and television actors, with credits including Kiwi classics Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider, The Dark Horse, and Hollywood flicks such as Blow, Training Day and, more recently, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw.

Actor Cliff Curtis pictured in front of some of artist Tame Iti's work that adorns a dairy in Taneatua, near Whakatāne. Photo / Alan Gibson

Growing up, he said he always looked up to Taa Toby as an esteemed man.

"He's got the alphabet after his name," Curtis said.

Taa Toby had a PhD, was a Fulbright scholar, travelled overseas and was knighted in 2014 for services to Māori Education.

"He lived multiple lives."

While Taa Toby held many different important roles in education, broadcasting and iwi leadership throughout his life, as an uncle he was a fixture, Curtis said.

"He was always there. Just there, everywhere. He was one of those rangatira, kaumatua, uncles. He was there."

Cliff said when, in his youth, he was a ward of the state in Rotorua, Taa Toby would visit to help out the family.

"He wasn't just the chairman of this, or on the board of that.

"I liked to just go and have chats with him. Even up to last week, have a chat, see what's happening and talk about what's current."

Cliff said Taa Toby articulated his views well and a large part of his life was focused on elevating "our circumstances as Māori".

Taa Toby Curtis. Photo / Stephen Parker

"I was keen to glean some perspectives from him ... everyone is going to say these things over and over again, about how he was such an eloquent speaker. He was, for the nation, someone they would look to."

He recalled learnings taught by his uncle, and also how he never heard him speak publicly with anger.

"He was always so measured in the way he would articulate his views. A very sophisticated man."

Taa Toby was well known for working to improve education opportunities for Māori as well as Te Reo retention and lake health.

But Cliff remembers how his uncle helped during his father's tangi. His father, Taa Toby's brother, had wanted to be cremated but this was something not done within Te Arawa.

"He took that up, and it was a year's worth of work he did, helping my older brother to look at protocol and tikanga around cremation."

Dennis (left) and Cliff Curtis in the wharekai at Tapuaekura. Photo / Andrew Warner

As spokesman for the whānau, Taa Toby never shied away from issues, no matter how small or how difficult, he said.

He said this included when two whānau members were charged in connection with the death of Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie 15 years ago.

"Another leader of a family or people might have felt some sense of shame. But if he did, he always treated all our family members with dignity, love and respect."

The loss of his uncle was devastating for himself and the whānau, he said.

He had great affection for his elders, and he held them in absolute esteem.

"The love he felt from past generations, and the love he had for them, he carried forward even up to this last week."

Taa Toby's last few days were filled with love and intimacy, he said.

"He felt that love back. He has been here on this marae for weddings, births, deaths. Wrangling with the government agencies and other initiatives."

The Curtis whānau was large, Taa Toby being the youngest of 15 children.

Cliff's father was the next youngest brother, but a lot of the Curtis brothers looked similar, he said.

As such, people speaking to his uncle would confuse Cliff as Taa Toby's son.

"He said after a while he just let it lay there ... he would joke and say I became his actual son in those moments. Not to take away from his actual sons."

He said many of the qualities his uncle possessed had been passed down to the next generation of Curtis cousins.

- Laura Smith, NZ Herald