United Kingdom, Sept. 24 -- Guy Pearce stepped into the role of "family dad" at the age of eight after his father's death in a plane crash.

The 57-year-old Hollywood actor was left devastated when his test pilot dad Stuart Pearce was killed in an accident in 1976 and he's now revealed he had to grow up quickly because he needed to care for his sister Tracy while his mum Anne was working.

He told the Wall Street Journal: "In August 1976, my father, the chief structural designer and the navigator took the plane up for a test. Ninety seconds into the flight, a large section of the tail fell off. The navigator, Pat Larcy, was the sole survivor.

"When I arrived home from school that day, Mum's friends were there. She took me into her bedroo...