Beckinsale thankful for dad's memory

Rex Features

Kate Beckinsale is grateful that her father's memory is kept alive in the UK, as she barely knew him herself.

The actress was just five when dad Richard had a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 31, leaving wife Judy Loe to raise her alone.

He is still remembered fondly for his roles in popular '70s sitcoms Porridge and Rising Damp.

Kate, 32, said: "I do have memories, but when you're that young, you're not really at the conversational stage of a relationship.

"He's still such a huge figure in England, which I find moving and impressive all these years later, but at the time, I used to get him confused with both God and John Lennon because John Lennon died a couple of years later, and I remember getting the whole thing a bit mixed up."

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