Actress Kate Beckinsale has shared that her mum, actress Judy Loe, died on Tuesday (July 15). She was 78.
Kate, 51, shared the news on Instagram today (July 18), two years after she shared that Judy had stage four cancer.
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Kate Beckinsale mourns death of her beloved mum
Alongside a selection of photos, she wrote: “I don’t want to post this. I am only posting this because I have had to register my mother‘s death certificate and it will soon become public record. She died the night of July 15 in my arms after immeasurable suffering.”
She added: “I am paralysed. Jude was the compass of my life, the love of my life, my dearest friend. The vastness and huge heart of this tiny woman has touched so many people who love her dearly. She has been brave in so many ways, forgiving sometimes too much, believing in the ultimate good in people and the world is so dim without her that it is nearly impossible to bear.”
Kate signed off the post: “Mama, I love you so much. This has been my greatest fear since finding my father dead at five and I am here. Oh my Mama. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I am so sorry.”
Actress Judy appeared in General Hospital, Inspector Morse, Casualty, Holby City and Doctors. She played Jan Goddard in Holby City, the hospital’s chief exec, and appeared in nine episodes.
Kate Beckinsale’s TV director stepdad died last year
Judy’s death came a year and a half after Kate lost her stepfather.
TV director Roy Battersby had been married to Judy since 1997. He died in January last year at the age of 87 following a stroke.
I will honour him and his work every day of my life.
Kate honoured Roy, who worked on shows including Between The Lines, Inspector Morse, Cracker and A Touch of Frost, in April, on what would have been his 89th birthday.
She wrote on Instagram: “Happy birthday Roy. Given I’ve been waiting all day – can you rise again please – ideally tomorrow … that would be great. You being dead is really [bleep]ing wearing now. I love you so very much and I wish you had been here to have your birthday and Easter on the same day but anyway – see you tomorrow. I shall be waiting at the mouth of the cave.”
Weight loss concerns
In July last year, after an Instagram user left a rude comment on one of her posts, she said that she “lost a lot of weight” through grief and stress brought on by Roy’s death and Judy’s cancer.
She added that she needed a stay in the hospital, explaining: “The grief had burned a hole in my oesophagus which made me vomit copious amounts of blood, and I found eating very hard.”
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BAFTA controversy
Weeks after her stepdad’s death, Kate slammed BAFTA when the organisation emailed her to say it couldn’t guarantee he’d be part of the In Memoriam segment of its TV awards ceremony.
She wrote on Instagram at the time: “Today BAFTA told me they ‘could not guarantee’ he (Roy) would be included in their ‘in memoriam’ tribute, to honour the industry members we have lost. So a man dead less than a week somehow has to audition in front of a committee after a decades-long career in which he has been awarded from said organisation (that has awarded him the highest accolade they have) to decide if his death is worth mentioning.
“If his work, his life, his craft, his mentoring, his heart and soul are worthy of a mention that he is gone. That, that has broken my heart all over again. I am paralysed, sick and sickened and I will honour him and his work every day of my life.”
In a later statement, BAFTA described him as a “renowned and trailblazing director” and added: “We confirm he will be honoured in our forthcoming BAFTA Television Awards in May, and on the In Memoriam section on our website.”
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Kate lost her dad when she was a child
In 1979, when she was five years old, Kate lost her dad, the actor Richard Beckinsale. He died from a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. Richard starred in shows such as Porridge and Rising Damp. He was 31 when he died.
The night of his death, Richard attended a party for The Two Ronnies before returning to the family home in Sunningdale, Berks. The last anyone heard from the star was in a phone call he made to friends before going to bed. During the call, he noted he had pains in his arms and chest but made light of it. Tragically, Richard never woke up.
‘It was a terrible loss’
Kate told The Independent in 1997: “Anybody who’s lost anybody knows that while it does get less painful, in that immediate way, it can still catch you 20 years later. Ever since he died, he’s been on telly very regularly so I’m very used to it. But sometimes it’ll catch me out and I’ll think, [bleep]. I’m older now than you were then.”
Of losing her father, the Hollywood actress said in 2013: “It was a terrible loss. It’s so weird as a five-year-old to look out in the street and see people reading the paper and crying while you’re crying and your mum is crying and your granny’s crying.
“Even though it was the worst loss that I have experienced I was able to share it with people who genuinely, even if they didn’t know him, really seemed to love him. I feel not many people are in that position – to have lost somebody and also to feel like that’s something really relevant to other people.”
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