Ross Kemp announced the sad death of his dad on Thursday as he paid tribute ahead of his funeral.
The EastEnders star, 61, uploaded a photo of his lookalike dad, John, on the beach, as he said goodbye to his ‘hero and role model.’
In the update to Instagram, Ross wrote: ‘John Kemp 1937 – 2025. Served his country, served his community served his family. My hero. Love you always Dad.’
In a separate post, the actor shared a black and white image of John serving in the army.
He captioned it: ‘Burying my Dad, tomorrow. My hero, my role model and a great dancer!’
Earlier this year, Ross broke down in tears as he unearthed a family secret that he spent his whole life questioning on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
Ross Kemp announced the sad death of his dad on Thursday as he paid tribute ahead of his funeral
The EastEnders star, 61, uploaded a photo of John on the beach, as he said goodbye to his ‘hero and role model’
The instalment saw the star – who is arguably best known for playing Grant Mitchell in EastEnders – find out about his family history.
During his time on the show Ross was on a mission to find out about his mum’s side, including his great-grandad, who was known in the clan as Pop, who had 10 other siblings and lived in a pub in Portsmouth as a youngster.
Ross recalled a moment that his mum had told him that her dad had turned up at the door wearing a US uniform, and everyone assumed that he had been shipwrecked in the southern China sea, but the soap star found out exactly what had happened to him.
The voice over explained: ‘On 11 July 1943 Pops troop ship the Duchess of York and her convoy were over 300 miles off the Portuguese coast when three German air force planes took off from France and headed towards them.’
Ross met up with historian Sarah Louise Miller and she told him that the ship was hit twice, her engines were put out of order and she ended up catching fire.
As Louise explained what had happened, Ross became very emotional and wiped a tear from his face and she said although they were off the ship, they still weren’t safe.
Ross told Louise: ‘Sorry I’m getting emotional.’
‘It would have been a very scary situation,’ she told him.
In the update to Instagram, Ross wrote: ‘John Kemp 1937 – 2025. Served his country, served his community served his family. My hero. Love you always Dad’
Ross’ parents John and Jean pictured
The actor bares a striking resemblance to his father (John and jean pictured in the 1970s)
Earlier this year, Ross broke down in tears as he unearthed a family secret that he spent his whole life questioning on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
As his voice cracked, Ross asked: ‘But he survived, yeah?’ Louise replied: ‘He did survive.’
The voice over explained: ’89 lives were lost from the Duchess of York that night.
‘And the next day, her destroyed hulk was sunk to the bottom of the sea. Now in one of the escort vessels who rescued him… Pop was still a target.
‘He and the other survivors had little choice but to risk a 700-mile sea voyage to Casablanca, the largest nearby port under Allied control.’
After finding out the truth, Ross said: ‘I know it sounds like I’m smiling about the was shipwrecked, but I was questioning if that actually ever happened!’
He added: ‘It’s very odd. I make lots of documentaries around the whole about a lot of stuff but when it’s about you or your family, it has a very different impact.
‘It really does. Oh Pop, what a life he had.’
Speaking to the camera Ross said: ‘It’s such a complex feeling to think about somebody who I was told about all my life by my grandmother, and by my mother, had been this kind of interesting, traveler and there are similarities that I’m drawing from understanding him that I see in myself.
‘His life was all about him doing what he warned to do most of the time. So I’m finding out basically from my great grandfather, a lot about me.’
