London, January 31 : `Underworld' star Kate Beckinsale has revealed how tragically her father, Richard, died in his sleep at their Berkshire home, while her mother, Judy, was undergoing surgery to have more kids.

Kate recalled that she was just five when the `Porridge' star died in 1979, aged just 31.

"I used to pester my mother to have another baby when my father was still alive. She ended up having an eight-hour operation to unblock her tubes and things like that," the Daily Express quoted the actress as saying.

"The operation was a success but my father died while she was having it, so it was really ironic, terrible timing," she revealed.

Kate has an older half-sister, fellow actress Samantha, from her father's first marriage to Margaret Bradley. (ANI)