Actor Michael Caine: I Asked Doc to Kill My Ill Father

LONDON (The Blaze/AP) -- Actor Michael Caine has claimed he hastened his terminally ill father's death by asking a doctor to give a fatal overdose.

In a transcript of an radio interview widely published in British media before being broadcast Saturday, Caine said he could not bear to see his father in pain.

Caine, 77, told Classic FM the doctor initially refused but told the actor to return to the hospital at midnight:

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.' 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 Maurice Micklewhite died at the age of 56 in 1955 after suffering from liver cancer.

Caine's publicist did not immediate return an e-mail seeking comment.

According to The Guardian of London, Caine supports assisted suicide. When asked in the interview if he believes such actions are okay, he responded: "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 semi-conscious."

Caine seems to be insinuating that the request was either echoed by his father, or that his father did not stop Caine from making the request.

Assisted suicide is a crime under Britain's 1961 Suicide Act, The Guardian reports, and carries a sentence of up to 14 years. But the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has said a person is unlikely to be prosecuted if they are acting for compassionate, unselfish, and non-malicious reasons.

Caine has won two Oscars for Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules. Recently, he has starred as the loyal butler Alfred in the new Batman series. He is technically Sir Michael Caine, as he was knighted in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II for his accomplishments.