Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal has died at the age of 84 from lung cancer at her home in Martha’s Vineyard.
Born Patsy Louise Neal in a coal-mining camp in Tennessee, she had many personal and physical challenges during her career in Broadway and Hollywood.
The actress picked up her Oscar in 1963 for her role opposite Paul Newman in 'Hud'. A year later she suffered three strokes that left her semi-paralysed – but she overcame her condition to return to the screen winning another Oscar nomination for 'The Subject Was Roses'.
She also starred in 'A Face in the Crowd' and 'Breakfast at Tiffany’s'.
She married author Roald Dahl in 1953 and they had five children together. She lost a daughter to measles and her son was badly injured when his stroller was hit by a taxi in New York. The couple divorced after 30 years together. She is the grandmother of model and TV presenter Sophie Dahl.
In a statement her family said that on the day before she died, the screen star said: "I've had a lovely time."
They added: "She faced her final illness as she had all of the many trials she endured, with indomitable grace, good humour and a great deal of her self-described stubbornness."
