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Veteran British actor David Warner, known for his villainous characters such as malicious enforcer Spicer Lovejoy in Titanic, has died at the age of 80. According to a BBC report, his family confirmed that he died from a cancer-related illness.

His career spanned cinema, stage, radio and television. He was regarded as the finest Hamlet of his generation on stage, according to The Guardian. Warner gravitated towards cinema as a character actor from British 1960s cinema to the sci-fi world of Tron, Doctor Who and Star Trek.

In a statement to the BBC, Warner’s family said, “Over the past 18 months he approached his diagnosis with a characteristic grace and dignity… 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.”

The actor was born in Manchester in 1941. Warner often described his childhood as troubled and messy. His Russian father sent him to a boarding school while his mother disappeared from his life when he was a teenager.

After school he studied at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. After joining Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 21, Warner was cast as the lead in Karel Reisz’s critically acclaimed film Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment and Hamlet in 1965.

He often played the villain be it in 1981 film Time Bandits, 1979’s time-travel sci-fi Time After Time and one of his top works, 1982’s Tron.

Warner moved to Hollywood in 1987 and made regular TV appearances in Star Trek, Twin Peaks and even The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse. He was recently seen in Mary Poppins Returns as Admiral Boon.