Russell Crowe’s dad John Alexander Crowe dies aged 85 after Qantas mid-air emergency

Heartbreaking new details have emerged about the death of Russell Crowe’s father on board a Qantas flight from Sydney yesterday.

Hollywood heavyweight Russell Crowe has announced the sad passing of his father, John Alexander Crowe, at the age of 85.

And the heartbreaking circumstances of Crowe’s father’s death emerged overnight, with 7 News reporting the actor’s father had died on board a Qantaslink flight from Sydney to Coffs Harbour.

“They basically gave him CPR for who knows how long ... probably 18 to 20 minutes,” fellow passenger Andrew Fraser told 7NEWS.

“They worked tirelessly and continued after the flight had landed.”

An ambulance awaits the Qantaslink flight.

Crowe announced the death of his “dear old man” on Twitter yesterday.

“I arrived back in the bush last night. Today, although the sun is shining and the torrential rain has abated, this date will forever be tinged by sadness,” Crowe wrote.

“My dear old man, my beautiful dad, the most gentle of men, has passed away.

Russell’s father John.

“I’m posting this because I know there are people all over the world who’s heart he touched and who’s ribs he tickled with his sparkly eyes and his cheeky attitude to everyone, and everything, and this is probably as efficient a method as any to pass on the news.

“John Alexander Crowe. 13th March 1936-30th March 2021. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Passed away in Coffs Harbour, NSW, his home for the last 25 years. Rest In Peace.”

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I arrived back in the bush last night.
Today, although the sun is shining and the torrential rain has abated, this date will forever be tinged with sadness.
My dear old man, my beautiful dad, the most gentle of men, has passed away.

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) March 30, 2021

Crowe, who recently joined the star-studded line up of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder, which is currently being filmed in Sydney, told Extra TVlast year he was quarantining in the bush “because my Mum and Dad are pretty old”.

“Now, my dad’s 84 and my mum’s 79,” he said at the time. “And they’re suffering from the things that people get at that age, you know, early onset this and that, you know, so it was just a better thing for me to do to decide to be where they were,” he said.

“Because, you know, my kids are in Sydney … it was a good decision for me to be happy with my mum and dad.”

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Russell Crowe has announced the sad passing of his father, John Alexander Crowe. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

The actor said he and his parents were spending lockdown doing “weekly things”.

“We do this on a Tuesday and that on a Thursday … They drive up to the top of the hill to a completely different village where there’s a lady there who colours my mum’s hair … She’s 79, of course, she’s never had a grey hair in her life,” he said.

“And, you know, my dad likes to go there because they’re making cups of tea and they give a comfortable seat.”