Hollywood stars back cameraman Mark Milsome's foundation

Hollywood stars are backing a charity founded in memory of a cameraman killed while shooting a stunt sequence.

Mark Milsome, of Builth Wells, Powys, died in Ghana last November while working on Black Earth Rising.

His family has launched the Mark Milsome Foundation (MMF) which aims to nurture young film-making talent.

Stars including Robert De Niro, Dame Judy Dench and Johnny Depp have backed the cause by wearing the foundation's T-shirts.

This weekend, about 3,000 TV and film industry workers will wear the T-shirts, including the cast and crew of His Dark Materials, Rocketman and Ironbark.

Charity chairman Kirk Jones said: "The film industry is often referred to as a family. The level of support for the Mark Milsome Foundation is an indication of the loss still being felt within that family a year after Mark's death."

Production on Black Earth Rising was halted when the 54-year-old cameraman died during a night shoot for a car stunt.

Police in Ghana are still investigating Mark's death.

His widow Andra Levinson-Milsome, who called on TV viewers to boycott Black Earth Rising when it premiered on BBC2 in September, has now launched a civil action.

Rachel Pavey of law firm Irwin Mitchell said: "We are representing the family in their civil case.

"His family are naturally devastated and want answers about what happened. We are liaising with legal representatives of the production company that Mark was working for when he was killed."

The BBC said there was an ongoing investigation into the death with a coroner's inquest pending and it was unable to comment.