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Lynda Bellingham, actor and presenter, dies aged 66 Lynda Bellingham, actor and presenter, dies aged 66
(35 minutes later)
The TV presenter and actor Lynda Bellingham has died within a month of revealing she had stopped receiving chemotherapy for terminal cancer. The broadcaster and actor Lynda Bellingham has died within a month of revealing she had stopped her chemotherapy for cancer.
Her agent, Sue Latimer, said the 66-year-old – who was best known for her role as the mother in long-running Oxo advertisements – died “in her husband’s arms” on Sunday. She had been suffering cancer of the colon since July 2013.Her agent, Sue Latimer, said the 66-year-old – who was best known for her role as the mother in long-running Oxo advertisements – died “in her husband’s arms” on Sunday. She had been suffering cancer of the colon since July 2013.
Last month Bellingham revealed she had weeks to live after deciding to end her chemotherapy; the cancer had spread to her lungs and liver. Last month, Bellingham revealed she had weeks to live after deciding to end her chemotherapy; the cancer had spread to her lungs and liver.
Before her death Bellingham recorded a farewell interview on the ITV show Loose Women. Asked how she wanted to be remembered she said: “Just [as] an honest person.” Before her death, Bellingham recorded a farewell interview on the ITV show Loose Women, on which she had appeared as a panellist.
Asked how she wanted to be remembered, she said: “Just [as] an honest person.”
The Daily Mail quoted her telling the programme: “Trust is a huge thing. Not just as an actor, not just as a lover, not just as a wife … Just to say ‘you could trust her’.
Latimer said: “Lynda died peacefully in her husband’s arms yesterday [Sunday] evening at a London hospital. Her family, to whom she was devoted, would like to thank the nurses and staff for their tremendous care and support.
“As an actor, writer and presenter, Lynda was a consummate professional to the very end. Those of us privileged to have known her personally will miss the entertaining, life-enhancing, true and honest friend that blessed our lives.”
Bellingham’s decision to end her treatment was revealed in a newspaper serialisation of her forthcoming autobiography.
She wrote: “The decision to give up chemo was a huge relief because I took back some control of myself. It’s there on the table if I want it. I don’t want the boys or my husband to see me die a little sad old lady. I want to go out there as I am.”
She also wrote that she wanted to live to see one more Christmas.
Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray, who is suffering from breast cancer, tweeted: “So sad that #LindaBellingham won’t have that last Christmas with her husband and sons. A great woman gone far too young.”
Bellingham’s pre-recorded farewell appearance on Loose Women is due to be screened on Wednesday.
Fellow Loose Women presenter Kaye Adams said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “That [honesty] is just one of the ways she’ll be remembered: honest, generous, kind, courageous, intelligent, thoughtful – all of those things.”
She added: “She always left your feeling better about life.”
Bellingham was awarded an OBE in 2013 for charity work. She was married three times and is survived by her two sons.
During her career she also appeared in the long-running TV drama about Yorkshire vets, All Creatures Great And Small, and starred in a touring production of Calendar Girls.
Other acting roles included the sitcoms 1990s TV show Faith in the Future and Second Thoughts, which began on BBC Radio 4 in 1988 before transferring to ITV.
The Labour MP Chris Bryant, shadow minister for welfare for reform, described Bellingham as “an embodiment of mischievous graciousness”.
Actor Simon Pegg, who starred with Bellingham in Faith in the Future, said: “Lynda Bellingham, a gorgeous, brassy, funny, generous, talented human being. My first TV mother figure and a treasured friend.”