Actor Kate Beckinsale is mourning the loss of her “dearest friend,” her mother British actor Judy Loe.
The “Underworld” star announced Thursday that her mother died Tuesday evening, writing in an emotional Instagram post that Loe died “in my arms after immeasurable suffering.”
Though Beckinsale in her post did not disclose a cause of death, she announced last year that her mother had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Loe was 78.
The “Pearl Harbor” actor, 51, said she felt compelled to announce her mother’s death because she had to register the “Space Island One” actor’s death certificate. She shared a carousel of photos and videos of her mother from over the years, including snaps of Loe in her youth and with granddaughter Lily Mo Sheen, whom Beckinsale shares with ex Michael Sheen.
“I am paralysed,” Beckinsale wrote in her caption. “Jude was the compass of my life, the love of my life, my dearest friend.”
Loe, born March 6, 1947, in Manchester, enjoyed a versatile career that began in the 1970s and earned her dozens of credits, mostly on British TV series. She broke out on the ITV fantasy series “Ace of Wands” in 1970s and went on to appear in numerous other programs for the network including “The Chief,” “Crown Court,” “Let There Be Love” and “Goodnight and God Bless.”
Throughout her career — her most recent credit was a minor role in the TV miniseries “Fool Me Once” in 2024 — Loe took on a variety of roles ranging from a magician’s assistant in “Ace of Wands” to a much sought-after divorcée in “Singles” to a spacecraft commander in “Space Island One.”
Prior to taking on screen roles, Loe pursued a career on the stage, including repertory theater in northern England’s Crewe, where in 1968 she met fellow actor Richard Beckinsale, whom she would marry in 1977. Though they split after two years of marriage, they welcomed daughter Kate in 1973. Richard Beckinsale died at age 31 from a heart attack.
Loe remarried in 1997 to television director Roy Battersby, who died in January 2024 after a brief illness. He was 87.
In her announcement, Kate Beckinsale praised her mother for her legacy, “huge heart” and courage in the final year of her life.
Beckinsale continued: “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.”
Loe is survived by six stepchildren in addition to her daughter, according to the Guardian.
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