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The Canadian ambassador who helped six American diplomats escape after the US embassy in Tehran was stormed by Iranian revolutionaries in 1979 has died, his family has said.

Ken Taylor was 81 and died in hospital in New York.

He played a key role in sneaking the diplomats out of Iran using Canadian passports and forged Iranian visas.

The crisis began when revolutionary students stormed the embassy taking about 50 American hostages.

'Valiantly risked his life'

Freeing them became a priority for the administration of US President Jimmy Carter, whose failure to do so included an abortive helicopter rescue attempt.

This failure also contributed to his losing the presidency to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

The escape of the six became known as the "The Canadian Caper". They escaped after about three months by catching a plane to Switzerland in January 1980. Many of the hostages in the embassy were held for 444 days.

Mr Taylor was praised by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday, who described him as "valiantly risking his life by shielding a group of American diplomats from capture".

"Ken Taylor represented the very best that Canada's foreign service has to offer," Mr Harper said.

Their story was depicted in the award-winning 2012 movie Argo, starring Ben Affleck in the role of real-life Central Intelligence Agency operative Tony Mendez.

Mr Mendez helped concoct the diplomats' cover story and provided them with disguises.

Mr Taylor, who was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the US Congress in 1980, criticised the film for downplaying Canada's role in securing their freedom.

He later left the Canadian foreign service and became a businessman.