Actress McElhone's husband dies

The couple were preparing for their 10th wedding anniversary

British actress Natascha McElhone is flying home from Los Angeles after the sudden death of her husband.

Martin Kelly, 42, died after being found collapsed in the doorway of his west London home by a friend.

Mr Kelly, one of the UK's leading plastic surgeons, is thought to have suffered a heart attack.

McElhone, the 36-year-old star of Californication, was filming in LA at the time. She is pregnant with their third child.

She is expected to return to London shortly with their two children Theodore, eight, and Otis, five.

Paramedics who arrived at Mr Kelly's home on Tuesday tried to revive him but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where he worked as a consultant plastic surgeon.

He was very, very talented in so many ways, in music and art, and he was very much liked because of it Peter Butler, plastic surgeon

Media commentator Roy Greenslade, who is Ms McElhone's stepfather, said family, friends and colleagues were in "complete shock" at the death of "a truly magnificent man".

"As well as being a brilliant doctor, he painted, he wrote his own music as well as being a great sportsman. He was just terrific and a true Renaissance man," he said.

Mr Greenslade said the couple had been looking forward to celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.

Consultant plastic surgeon Peter Butler, who was given the go-ahead to perform the UK's first full face transplant in 2006, knew Mr Kelly for more than 12 years.

He said: "It's a massive loss. He was one of the most capable plastic surgeons Britain has ever produced.

McElhone starred in the BBC adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl

"He was reaching a stage where he was emerging on the world stage and, obviously, we are quite devastated.

"He was an enormously gifted surgeon but there were so many different facets to his interests.

"He was very, very talented in so many ways, in music and art, and he was very much liked because of it."

A statement from London Plastic Surgery Associates (LPSA), a private practice of several London consultant plastic surgeons, said: "The partners and staff of LPSA are deeply shocked and saddened by the death of our colleague Martin Kelly.

"He was a gifted plastic and reconstructive surgeon, a dynamic member of our practice, a devoted husband and father to his family and a dear friend and colleague to us.

"Our thoughts are with his widow Natascha and their two children at this time and everyone at LPSA expresses their deepest sympathy to Martin's family."