Oscar winning actress Patricia Neal dies at age of 84

It’s been announced that Oscar winning actress Patricia Neal has died at the age of 84 following a battle with lung cancer.

 

It’s been announced that Oscar winning actress Patricia Neal has died at the age of 84 following a battle with lung cancer. Neal won an Oscar for her role in the 1963 film Hud and her other film roles included A Face In The Crowd, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Bright Leaf, The Breaking Point and Operation Pacific. Neal began her career on Broadway in the 1940s before moving into films during the latter part of the decade and early 1950s. On television her most memorable role was probably that of Olivia Walton in the drama series The Walton’s which was set during the 1930s and followed the titular family as they struggled to cope during the Great Depression.

 

Following a series of strokes at the age of 39 the actress gave up acting. However, with the aid of her husband Roald Dahl, the children’s author, Neal returned to acting several years later. Dahl helped rehabilitate Neal and the two were married for thirty years – divorcing in the 1980s. Neal is the grandmother of the television presenter Sophie Dahl who recently had her own BBC Two cookery series – The Delicious Miss Dahl. Neal’s last on-screen role was in 2009 in the film Flying.