Tributes pour in for ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ actor Jake Abraham after his cancer death aged 56

1 October 2023

Tributes are pouring in for tragic ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ actor Jake Abraham after he died aged 56 – months after opening up about his regrets he didn’t get a cancer diagnosis sooner.

Tributes are pouring in for tragic ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ actor Jake Abraham after he died aged 56 – months after opening up about his regrets he didn’t get a cancer diagnosis sooner

The much-loved Liverpudlian, who played Dean in Guy Ritchie’s directorial debut gangster classic, revealed he had the disease in July and admitted he had “left it too late” to go to the doctors after pushing through pain until he spotted blood in his urine.

News of his death broke on X on Sunday (01.10.23), with the tragic star’s army of fans paying tribute to the actor – who admitted a doctor told him he may have had cancer for up to four years.

Following a diagnosis of prostate cancer, he died when the disease spread to the rest of his body and created tumours on his spine, hips and bladder.

He told the Liverpool ECHO newspaper in July about delaying going for a check-up even though he had been in agony while appearing in ‘The Scouse Jack and the Beanstalk' pantomime at Liverpool’s Royal Court theatre: “I was working but I wasn’t feeling well. I was pushing through those spells when you don’t feel yourself, you haven’t got the energy and there are aches and pains.

“The costume for the play was enormous, I knew I wasn't well then but I'd not been well for so long.

“What made me go to the doctor and get a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test was that I passed blood in my urine.

“I got a test and ended up in the Royal. He said, ‘You've got cancer, I’m so, so sorry’.

“He said that I'd had it for years, maybe four years.”

Jake received radiotherapy treatment but his plan was soon switched to end-of-life care.

The star said he was told at the time that he could have between months or years left to live.

His late diagnosis meant he was keen to encourage others to get themselves checked out if they are feeling ill.

Among the flood of fan tributes to Jake, actor and filmmaker David Morrissey, 59, said online: “RIP Jake Abraham. Top bloke and wonderful performer. Gone way too soon.”

Former ‘Brookside’ actress Tina Malone, 60, who described Jake as her theatre husband, said: “I am heartbroken my screen and theatre husband, my mate of 50 years has passed.

“Talented, funny, kind, a true Liverpool legend RIP my darling.”

Jake was born in Liverpool’s tough Toxteth area but grew up in Kensington, and started his acting career in the 1980s by training at The Everyman Youth Theatre.

His four-decade acting career in theatre and on screen included appearing in Alan Bleasdale’s 1991 Channel 4 drama ‘GBH’ alongside Michel Palin and ‘Red Dwarf’.

Jake’s film roles included parts in a string of gangster flicks such as ‘London Boulevard’ starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley and 2021’s ‘The 51st State’.