Gloria Stuart, Oscar nominee for 'Titanic,' dies

LOS ANGELES - Gloria Stuart, the 1930s Hollywood beauty who gave up acting for 30 years, later to become the oldest Academy Award acting nominee as the spunky survivor in "Titanic," has died. She was 100.

Stuart died of respiratory failure Sunday night at her Los Angeles home, her daughter, Sylvia Thompson, said yesterday. Her mother had been diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago and had beaten breast cancer about 20 years ago, Thompson said.

"She did not believe in illness. She paid no attention to it, and it served her well," Thompson said. "She had a great life. I'm not sad. I'm happy for her."

In her youth, Stuart was a blond beauty who starred in B pictures as well as some higher-profile ones such as "The Invisible Man," Busby Berkeley's "Gold Diggers of 1935" and two Shirley Temple movies, "Poor Little Rich Girl" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm." But by the mid-1940s she had retired.

In the 1970s, she resumed acting, doing occasional television and film work, including in Peter O'Toole's 1982 comedy "My Favorite Year." But Stuart's later career would have remained largely a footnote if James Cameron had not chosen her for his 1997 epic about the doomed luxury liner that struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in 1912.

Stuart co-starred as Rose Calvert, the 101-year-old survivor who was played by Kate Winslet as a young woman. Both earned Oscar nominations, Winslet for best actress and Stuart for supporting actress.

"I am so saddened to hear of the loss of this remarkable woman," Winslet said. "I feel blessed to have met her, known her and to have acted alongside her. Anyone who spent time in her presence will know what an extraordinary shining light she truly was. She will be deeply missed."

"Titanic" took in $1.8 billion worldwide to become the biggest modern blockbuster, a position it held until Cameron's "Avatar" came along last year and passed it on the box-office chart.

In her later years, Stuart took an occasional role in television, but before doing "Titanic," she had not worked in several years.

She also became an acclaimed painter, holding exhibitions of her work, and took up fine book printing, for which she did her own artwork.

Besides her daughter, Stuart is survived by four grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.