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What happened to Kate Beckinsale’s father Richard Beckinsale? What we know as actress mourns mom Judy Loe’s passing

Kate Beckinsale's father, Richard Beckinsale, died on March 19, 1979.
posted by Shreya Ghosh
Friday 7/18/2025 at 5:35AM EDT
  • Kate Beckinsale (Image via Everett Collection)
    Kate Beckinsale (Image via Everett Collection)

    Kate Beckinsale, 51, announced the death of her mother, Jude, while paying an emotional tribute to her.  

    She had also lost her father, Richard Beckinsale, at a very young age. He was just 31 when he passed away after suffering from a heart attack.  

    According to The Mirror, he left his wife and two kids behind, and Kate was just five years old.  

    Kate Beckinsale’s mother died on July 15

    On Instagram, the Pearl Harbor actress confirmed losing "the compass" of her life on the night of July 15 in her arms.  

    Sharing a carousel of memorable moments of her mother from different years of her life, Kate penned a heartfelt note while mourning her loss. With a broken heart, she captioned the post,

    "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."

    Kate shared that her mother took her last breath in the actress’s arms “after immeasurable suffering.” She confessed feeling overwhelmed to look back at her mom’s pictures and video, adding,

    "I have not picked all the best photos, nor the best videos, because I cannot bear to go through my camera roll yet."

    Beckinsale also took this moment to apologize to Jude’s friends who found out the sad news via social media or the press. She feels devastated to go through her mom’s phone. She poured her heart out in her Instagram caption, further writing,

    "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."

    Acknowledging her mother's strength and kindness, the Love & Friendship star noted,  

    "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."

    Expressing her love and affection, she concluded with, 

    "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."

    In July 2024, Kate disclosed the news of her mother’s stage 4 cancer diagnosis. While Jude was struggling with a tiresome battle, the actress did not reveal what caused her mother’s death, according to a Page Six report.

     As People reported, she shared updates of her own health issues on Instagram, noting that she vomited "copious amounts of blood" while revealing her mom's diagnosis. Responding to a troll mocking her in the comment section, she remarked,  

    "No, actually, I watched my stepfather [director Roy Battersby] die quite shockingly, my mother has stage 4 cancer, and I lost a lot of weight from stress and grief, quite quickly and then I was in the hospital for six weeks because the grief had burned a hole in my oesophagus which made me vomit copious amounts of blood, and I found eating very hard and I just worked very very hard on a movie that was actually quite triggering because it also involved the theme of the death of my father so I'm not really concerned about what you think about mu a*s."

    A look at Kate Beckinsale’s father, Richard Beckinsale’s unfortunate passing

    Richard died unexpectedly at a young age on March 19, 1979. He was just 31 when a heart attack triggered his death. Later, a post-mortem revealed that he sustained a congenital defect, according to the Daily Mail. While he passed away in his sleep, he was survived by his wife and their daughters, Kate and Samantha.

    Richard’s death was a major shock to everyone as he did not experience any symptoms or health crisis before the attack. Instead, Jude underwent an operation and was hospitalized at that time.  

    The Daily Mail reported that Richard and Kate visited Jude at the hospital a day before the shocking event. While he did not suffer from any major health crisis, he did feel tired.

    After the hospital visit, he also went to a party for The Two Ronnies in the evening hours. After spending time at the event, he headed back to his Sunningdale home. Just before calling it a night, Beckinsale had a conversation with his friends on his phone and spoke about feeling pain in his arms and chest. Unfortunately, it was the last time he spoke to someone.  

    The  BAFTA Awards event was hosted a few days after his passing. While speaking at the gala, producer Sydney Lotterby and actor Ronnie Barker mourned Richard’s loss While Lotterby could not express his emotions due to utter sadness, Barker remembered his mate, sharing,

    "The death of my friend Richard Beckinsale has robbed me of the joy of this award but the pride of winning it still remains."

    Richard Beckinsale’s daughters reflected on their tragic loss

    Last year, in March, Kate honored her father on his 45th death anniversary. Both Kate and Samantha often expressed their thoughts on mourning the loss of their father at such a young age. As the Daily Mail cited, Kate Beckinsale looked back on her father’s demise in a 2013 conversation, expressing,  

    “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."

    Remembering how many people supported the family during that distress, she further explained,

    “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.”

    Samantha Beckinsale is the Hollywood star’s half-sister. Richard shared her with his ex-wife Margaret. The estranged duo separated when Samantha was three years old. During those days, she stayed with her mother during those days and was in no regular touch with her father.

    Interestingly, Samantha knew Keith Bradley, whom Margaret married after her divorce, as her biological father. However, she realized the truth around one and a half years before Richard died. At 11, she met her biological father, Richard, and changed her surname to Beckinsale from Bradley years later. 

    Samantha spent time with Richard briefly. But their bond over those months devastated her equally. The Daily Mail cited her 2002 interview with The Mirror, where she expressed her grief, saying,

    "A lot of people I know lost parents when they were young, the only difference is it's not reported in the news."

    Delving into her wish to pursue acting, she also clarified, 

    "Having a member of my family who was an actor just meant acting was an option. It wasn't an odd thing to do. Also there's a lot of Irish in my family and I'm sure the performing comes equally from my mum's side. No one asks me about that. They get as far as my dad and that's it."

    Before his untimely death, Kate Beckinsale marked his presence in the industry with noteworthy appearances in several hit films. He was widely recognized for his performances in Porridge, The Lovers, and Rising Damp, among others.

    TOPICS: Kate Beckinsale


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