Actor David Warner, who starred in films such as The Omen and Tron, has died at the age of 80 from a cancer-related illness.

His family said they were sharing the news “with an overwhelmingly heavy heart”.

Warner was also known for playing Billy Zane’s villainous sidekick Spicer Lovejoy in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

He recently appeared as naval eccentric Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins Returns.

Warner died on Sunday at Denville Hall, a care home for those in the entertainment industry.

“Over the past 18 months he approached his diagnosis with a characteristic grace and dignity,” his family said in a statement given to the BBC.

“He will be missed hugely by us, his family and friends, and remembered as a kind-hearted, generous and compassionate man, partner and father, whose legacy of extraordinary work has touched the lives of so many over the years. We are heartbroken,” it continued.

Warner often played the baddie, taking on villainous roles in films such as The Thirty Nine Steps (1978) and Time Bandits (1981).

Many will recall his character, photographer Keith Jennings, who met an inglorious end in 1976’s supernatural classic, The Omen.

In an interview for a programme on horror films fronted by Mark Gatiss, when asked if he knew what had happened to his severed head, Warner deadpanned: “I lost it in the divorce.”

Warner played Bob Cratchit in George C Scott’s 1984 adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, noting it was a pleasure to play a character that wasn’t a villain for a change.

He also enjoyed a successful television career, with roles in Wallander – playing Kenneth Branagh’s father – Penny Dreadful, Ripper Street, Doctor Who and the original Twin Peaks among others.

Warner was also known for playing various characters in the Star Trek franchise and starred in several Doctor Who audio plays.

BBC