The daughter of Footballers' Wives actor John Forgeham has told how he battled depression in his final months because he could not find any work.

Grief-stricken Jonesta Andrews, 45, said her dad "stared at a wall for four years" because "acting was his life".

The granddad-of-five, who lived in Mildred Avenue and then Furzehill Road, in Borehamwood, died on Friday after falling out of his bed. Mr Forgeham is best-known for his roles in hit ITV series Footballers' Wives, The Italian Job and The Sweeney, filmed at Elstree Studios.

He also starred in films including Mean Machine, Prime Suspect and Crossroads and dramas including Doctors, The Bill and Casualty.

But his daughter says he struggled to find much work after Footballers' Wives was axed in 2006, and his last film role was in 2009 comedy flop Dead Man Running.

He fell into a deep depression and spent a year at Meadowfield Psychiatric Hospital in Worthing, West Sussex, under section before moving to a care home.

Mrs Andrews says things had taken a turn for the better in the past year, and his close relationship with his grandchildren meant he was "happy".

But tragically just 10 days after moving into a new flat, in Worthing, West Sussex, the star fell from his bed and died after suffering internal bleeding.

She said: "He has not been doing much since Footballers' Wives. He fell into depression as he did not 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. He was not paying his mortgage because he was ill and they were going to repossess his house.

"They sold his house and put the money in the bank because he was not mentally fit and he moved to an old people's home. Then all of a sudden he snapped out of it about a year ago and he was moved into a flat."

His daughter said as well as his inability to find work, a newspaper story which exposed him as a "sleazy web cam pervert" left him down in the dumps.

She added that acting was his life and 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."

Forgeham was born in Kidderminster, West Midlands, on May 14 1941. He got into acting after joining an amateur dramatics group while working at a factory and later won a scholarship to prestigious acting school RADA.

His death - which is being treated as unexplained awaiting postmortem results tomorrow - follows a four-year battle with mental health issues, his family said.

Mrs Andrews said: "It is still very raw. It is a shock because he died suddenly. We are all in shock. He had a fall on Wednesday night and called me on Friday morning to say he was not very well.

"He was rushed to hospital and he had some sort of burst inside - something ruptured. There was blood everywhere."

"Dad was a very talented actor and a charismatic and wonderful man. We had a close relationship and I was the person who looked after him.

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