Oscar winning actress, Patricia Neal, died on Sunday at the age of 84 in her home in Edgartown, Mass.
Neal won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Alma in the Western Drama Hud in 1964. She played the role as a housekeeper alongside co-star Paul Newman.
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Patsy Lou Neal was born on Jan. 20, 1926 in Packard, Ky. and was raised in Knoxville, Tenn. Prior to her Hollywood career, Neal debuted in the 1948 Broadway play Another Part of the Forest, written by Lillian Hellman. She would go on to receive a Tony, a Donaldson Award and a New York Drama Critics Award for her performance.
Neal had her movie debut opposite Ronald Regan in the 1949 comedy John Loves Mary. Later in 1949, she would play the lead role in the drama The Fountainhead, which is an adaptation of the Ayn Rand novel. She also starred in the 1951 Sci-Fi Thriller, The Day the Earth Stood Still, the 1957 drama, A Face in the Crowd, and the 1961 comedy, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Her role in The Fountainhead, led the 23-year-old to fall in love with 48-year-old co-star Gary Cooper. They had a three year affair, however it ended when Cooper decided to stay with his wife and daughter. During the affair, Neal became pregnant and chose to have an abortion.
Later, the actress married Roald Dahl, author of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The couple was married for 30 years and had five children before divorcing in 1983 after Neal learned that Dahl was having an affair.
In 1965 at age 39 she suffered three strokes that left her in a three week coma leaving the actress semi-paralyzed and unable to speak. Despite her condition, she learned to walk and talk again and appeared on screen in 1968 in The Subject Was Roses. The Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, was named after her and helps people recover from strokes and spinal cord and brain injuries. The center is located in Knoxville.
According to FOX News, Neal had lung cancer and died surrounded by her family on Martha’s Vineyard.