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Actor Powers Boothe, who was known for his roles in Sin City, Deadwood, and most recently Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, has died aged 68.

His publicist said the Emmy award-winner died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Boothe, who played Gideon Malick in S.H.I.E.L.D after appearing in The Avengers on the big screen, also appeared in TV shows Nashville and 24.

He won an Emmy in 1980 for his role in Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones.

Actor friend Beau Bridges paid tribute to Boothe on Twitter, calling him a .

The star gained a reputation for playing villains after a string of roles in the 1980s and '90s including Tombstone and Sudden Death.

He went on to play a ruthless saloon owner Cy Tolliver in the TV western series Deadwood, which ran for three seasons.

His co-star Garret Dillahunt Boothe was "a formidable adversary, baseball lover and poser hater".

The son of a ranch owner in Snyder, Texas, Boothe was the first in his family to go to university and began acting in the 1970s.

He made his film debut in 1977 Richard Dreyfuss film The Goodbye Girl and had a number of other small roles, but his big break came in 1980 when he bagged the title role as cult leader Jim Jones in the TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story Of Jim Jones.

The part was followed by another leading role, in 1983 TV series Philip Marlowe, Private Eye.

The following year he starred in Red Dawn, which imagines a US conflict with the Soviet Union. Actress Lea Thompson, who also appeared in the film, .

"I loved acting with you, you were a gentlemen and a great actor," she said.

His funeral will be a private service held in Texas and his family are considering a public memorial later in the year, his agent said.

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