Matt Damon's father Kent dies at age 74

Actor Matt Damon poses during a photocall for the movie "Downsizing" at the 74th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy on Aug. 30. Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi

The father of American Hollywood actor, Matt Damon, has passed away at 74 after his long and difficult battle with cancer.

The actor's publicist confirmed with The Hollywood Reporter that Kent Damon died on Dec. 14. The older Damon reportedly died of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that also affects the bone marrow. He had been suffering from this ailment for a very long time, and as he got older, his condition only got worse — especially in the last few months.

Damon had recently been busy promoting his most recent flick titled "Downsizing," which opened on the weekend of Dec. 22. However, the actor was not present during the movie's advanced screening premiere, which took place in Los Angeles, California on Dec. 19. In an attempt to explain Damon's whereabout, his representatives then stated that the actor was "out of town" attending to his family.

During the promotion for "Downsizing," Damon talked a little bit about his father's condition, stating that the prognosis was all but promising. He even asked his fans if they could kindly pray for his father when his health was getting worse.

Damon was also unable to accept the Stanley Kubrick Award for Excellence in Film at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA) last October, since he had to rush to his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts to tend to his father. Actress Kate Mara accepted the award on his behalf and gave a speech recollecting all of Damon's accomplishments as an actor and as a decent human being.

Damon's father once said about his son, "He's all you could ever for ask for in a son. It's been a wonderful ride being his dad."

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