Gwyneth Paltrow's father dies in Rome

Producer and director Bruce Paltrow, the patriarch of a show business family including his Oscar-winning daughter Gwyneth Paltrow, has died in Italy. He was 58.

Paltrow, who had been battling throat cancer, was travelling in recent days with his daughter, who recently celebrated her 30th birthday.

He died from complications of pneumonia and a recurrence of the cancer, according to his daughter’s publicist, Steven Huvane.

He died in a Rome hospital before dawn on Wednesday, the Entertainment Tonight TV programme reported.

Paltrow, whose wife was actress Blythe Danner, most recently wrote and directed the quirky karaoke road movie Duets, a film with multiple, intersecting story lines and an ensemble cast that included his daughter.

In the US, he was well known for producing and directing episodes of the 1980s TV series St Elsewhere, a hospital story with odd, frustrated characters and stories that blended comedy and tragedy.

Gwyneth Paltrow was in Rome, reportedly staying with Italian friends. Danner was working on her new television drama in Los Angeles and was not with her husband when he died.

Bruce Paltrow had made several public appearances in Italy in the last week, including at the Italian premiere of the film Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise.

In Duets, Gwyneth Paltrow co-starred as a Las Vegas showgirl who hits the highway with her long-lost dad, a karaoke hustler played by pop singer Huey Lewis.

Gwyneth Paltrow, who won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, said she saw it as an advantage taking direction from her father.

“I think he’s the smartest person I’ve ever known in my life,” she had said. “And also he’s my Dad. I thought, maybe I’ll work and get spoiled at the same time.”

Bruce Paltrow’s other child, Jake, is a television director.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s spokesman said Bruce Paltrow’s body would be returned to the US.