Michael Caine confessed he asked a doctor to help his cancer-stricken father die in his hospital bed in 195

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"My father had cancer of the liver and I was in such anguish over the pain he was in, that I said to this doctor, I said, 'Isn't there anything else you could do, just give him an overdose and end this?' because I wanted him to go and he said, 'Oh no, no, no, we couldn't do that,'" Caine told Classic FM in an interview broadcast Saturday.

"Then, as I was leaving, he said, 'Come back at midnight.' I came back at midnight and my father died at five past 12. So he'd done it."

Caine's father, a fish market porter in Billingsgate, died at the age of 56. He had been expected to live just three or four days at the time, Caine said.

When asked if he supports voluntary euthanasia, the 77-year-old actor said, "Oh I think so, yeah. I think if you're in a state to where life is no longer bearable, if you want to go. I'm not saying that anyone else should make the decision, but I made the request, but my father was semiconscious."

Assisted suicide is a crime that can carry a jail sentence of up to 14 years, but Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has said actions that spring from "compassionate, unselfish and non-malicious reasons" are not likely to be prosecuted, The Guardian newspaper said.