London, Mar 25 (IANS): Actor Idris Elba says watching his father Winston die of lung cancer was heartbreaking.

In an interview to The Hollywood Reporter, the "Luther" actor opened about his father's illness and why did he get a tattoo of "one life" on his forearm, reported mirror.co.uk.

He said: "That's it. That's all we've got. I watched my dad die, and he and I had big plans.I never got to show him the fruits of my labour. We talked about things he could have if I made it, then he got sick.

"It was heartbreaking, but it also grounded the f*** out of me."

This encouraged Elba to get "one life" tattooed on his arm, so that he doesn't forget to grab every opportunity thrown at him.

Winston died at the age of 76 in 2013. He was also Elba's role model for playing Nelson Mandela in the film of his life, "Long Walk to Freedom".

"So when someone tells me, 'You're doing a bit too much', I'm like, I'm going to die one day, I'm going to take that last breath. You know what I don't want to be thinking when I do? 'I should've done that'," Elba added.