Italian Job and Footballers' Wives actor John Forgeham dies in Sussex

Footballers' Wives star John Forgeham has died at the age of 75.

The actor, best-known for his role as the fictional football team's chairman Frank Laslett in the ITV drama, was taken to hospital in Sussex after falling from his bed on Wednesday night and breaking his collarbone, but died on Friday afternoon from an internal bleed.

He'd lived for many years in Worthing.

According to the Daily Mirror, his daughter Jonesta Forgeham said: "Dad was a very talented actor and a charismatic and wonderful man.

"He would want to be remembered as this wonderful actor. He lived and breathed acting."

Forgeham also appeared in The Italian Job, Crossroads and Mean Machine, but much of his work dried up following Footballers' Wives, which ran from 2002 to 2004.

Jonesta, 45, said: "He hasn't been doing much since Footballers' Wives. He fell into depression as he didn't get much work.

"He got very depressed. He stared at a wall for four years.

"He had psychotic tendencies and was put under section. He spent a year in a mental institution.

"When he came out, social services dumped him back in his house and they left him there to rot.

"He wasn't paying his mortgage because he was ill and they were going to repossess his house.

Jonesta said: "Not being able to act contributed to his depression.

"He was troubled most of his life and he struggled with going up and down, but he lived and breathed acting."

Scriptwriter Simon Golding tweeted a photo of himself with Forgeham and wrote: "So very sad to hear today the loss of my good friend, actor John Forgeham. A larger-than-life character & such a powerful actor. RIP John x"

And his Footballers' Wives co-star Susie Amy also tweeted: