84 year-old, Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal has died from lung cancer.

Neal won an Academy Award for her role in the 1963 film Hud, but retired from acting two years later at the age of 39 when she fell victim to a few strokes.

She returned to acting after going through some rehabilitation and got another Oscar nod and several Emmy nominations.

The star was born in Tennessee and was married to writer Roald Dahl for 30 years. She is the grandmother of model TV host Sophie Dahl

Neal's daughter Tessa is the mother of Dahl.

The actress aws on Broadway before moving to Hollywood in the later 40s.

Her early screen roles included the 1951s sci-fi films The Day The Earth Stood Still and A Face In The Crowd directed by Elia Kazan.

Her best actress Oscar for Hud was for her portrayal as a tough housekeeper who refused the advacnes of a charming character played by Paul Newman.

Neal had to re-learn to walk and talk after going through her strokes, and returned to film in 1968 and got an Oscar nomination for The Subject Was Roses.

Her health problems left her with a troubled memory and she had problems remembering large portions of the script.

She went on to play Olivia Walton in the TV drama that made the popular serious The Waltons, and go her first three Emmy nods.

Neal divorced Roald Dahl in 1983 and pulled out of the spotlight until 1999 when she showed up in Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune.

The actress had a famous husky voice, and got her last screen credit in 2009 for the film Flying.

Her family said in a statement 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."