Dame Helen Mirren has led tributes to the “kind and loving” actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who died on Friday aged 70.

The Oscar-winning actress worked alongside Tim in Mourning Becomes Electra at the National Theatre.

Announcing the news, the actor’s agent, John Grant, revealed he had died Friday morning, a month after collecting an OBE for services to drama.

In a statement, Dame Helen said: “I am so very sorry to hear of the unexpected death of my friend and colleague Tim Pigott-Smith.”

Dame Helen Mirren
(Ian West/PA)

“He was a kind and loving person as well as an actor with an very long, varied and successful career, brilliantly culminating in his recent triumph in King Charles III.

“I worked with him on the epic Eugene O’ Neill play Mourning Becomes Electra at the National Theatre and came to love him as a person as well as an actor.

“He combined a lovely sense of humour with a great seriousness about his work and was always utterly committed.

“We will miss him.”