US actor Stella Stevens – whose big-screen credits included The Poseidon Adventures and The Nutty Professor – has died at the age of 84.
Stella’s family confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that she had died earlier this day.
They also shared that she had been in a hospice “for quite some time”, after being diagnosed with late-stage Alzheimer’s.
Stella began her on-screen career in the late 1950s, and went on to become a prominent leading lady in comedies over the following two decades, winning a Golden Globe in 1960 in the now-defunct New Star Of The Year category.
In the 60 and 70s, she appeared in comedies like The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father, The Secret Of My Success and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.
She also shared the screen with Dean Martin, in The Silencers and How To Save A Marriage And Ruin Your Life, and Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, though the Hollywood Reporter noted the latter film was one she apparently hated.
Arguably her most famous role came in 1963, when she acted alongside Jerry Lewis in the original Nutty Professor movie, later remade by Eddie Murphy.
In 1972, she portrayed Linda Rogo in the disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure.
Stella went on to turn to directing in the late 70s, helming The American Heroine and The Ranch, and appeared in the American soaps Santa Barbara and General Hospital.
Her final acting credit came in 2010, when she appeared in the film Megaconda.
Stella is survived by her son, film producer Andrew Stevens, and her three grandchildren.