Four Weddings star found dead

Miss Coleman had film and television roles

Four Weddings and a Funeral star Charlotte Coleman has died aged 33, after suffering a massive asthma attack.

The BAFTA-nominated actress was found dead in her flat in Holloway, north London, on Wednesday by her actress mother Ann Beach.

Miss Coleman's parents had become worried after not being able to contact her.

We loved her and she was a rare creature who the camera loved

Francis Coleman

Her father, retired producer Francis Coleman, said the actress had always suffered from asthma, and had two or three inhalers, but had never experienced a major attack.

Mr Coleman, 77, said his daughter was taken to Whittington Hospital in north London, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

He said she had been in great spirits when they had last seen her, the day before she died.

"When she left she said she was feeling a little ill and I told her to stay with us but she wanted to go home," he said.

"The family is devastated. We loved her and she was a rare creature who the camera loved.

"It has all come as a terrible shock to us all but the family is pulling together."

Eccentric

In the hit film Four Weddings And A Funeral, Miss Coleman played Scarlet - the chaotic and eccentric flatmate of Hugh Grant's character.

She won a BAFTA nomination for the role, in which she also starred alongside John Hannah and Simon Callow.

She had been involved in television since the age of eight, with roles ranging from a part in Worzel Gummidge to the BBC sitcom How Do You Want Me? and the television drama, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit.

Geoffrey Perkins, head of BBC comedy, said: "Charlotte was a charming and wonderfully eccentric person. She bought these qualities and more to the roles she played. She will be sadly missed."

Mr Coleman said there would be a private family funeral on Wednesday.