Patricia Neal: Oscar Winner for Hud, Advocate for Stroke Victims

Patricia Neal, the Lead Actress Oscar Winner for 1963's Hud, has died from lung cancer at age 84 at her home in Massachusetts.


Her personal life, and triumph, often rivaled her on-screen drama. An infant son nearly died after his carriage was struck by a car in the early 1960s. Shortly thereafter, Neal's young daughter died of measles.

Her screen career, after an introduction on Broadway, surged in the 60s. She won her Oscar as a housekeeper to Melvyn Douglas, battling his selfish son (Paul Newman). In the mid-60s, she suffered several debilitating strokes before the age of 40. She was paralyzed and unable to speak for a time.

She fought back with rigorous therapy, with a limp and eyesight damage. She returned to the screen and was again nominated for an Oscar for 1968's The Subject Was Roses. She also earned three Emmy nominations between 1970 and 1980.

After a divorce from whimsical author Roald Dahl in 1983, one of her last major film roles was in 1999's Cookie's Fortune, directed by Robert Altman.

Neal was said to keep in good touch with her high school friends, and the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, helping stroke victims, was named in her honor in Knoxville, Tenn. In her autobiography, As I Am, published in 1988, she wrote, "Frequently my life has been likened to a Greek tragedy, and the actress in me cannot deny that comparison."

She was apparently courageous until the end. Her family noted some of her last words were, "I've had a lovely time."