MUMBAI: 84-year old Willowy, husky-voiced actress Patricia Neal, who won an Academy Award for 1963‘s Hud died on Sunday. She had lung cancer and died at her home in Edgartown.

"She faced her final illness as she had all of the many trials she endured: with indomitable grace, good humor and a great deal of her self-described stubbornness," her family said in a statement.

Having already won an award earlier when she won her Oscar for her role as a housekeeper to the Texas father (Melvyn Douglas) battling his selfish, amoral son Paul Newman.

Less than two years later, she suffered a series of strokes in 1965 at the age of 39. Her struggle to once again walk and talk is regarded as epic in the annals of stroke rehabilitation. She returned to the screen to earn another Oscar nomination and three Emmy nominations.

The Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in Knoxville that helps people recover from strokes and spinal cord and brain injuries is named after her.

In her 1988 autobiography, ‘As I Am‘, she wrote, "Frequently my life has been likened to a Greek tragedy and the actress in me cannot deny that comparison."