Actress Celeste Holm dies at the age of 95

Celeste Holm

Oscar-winning American actress Celeste Holm has died at the age of 95.

She made her name in the original Broadway production of the musical Oklahoma!, before moving on to Hollywood where she won an Oscar for her role in Gentlemen's Agreement.

Her other well-known films included The Tender Trap and High Society.

The actress's later years were marked by financial troubles and legal battles with her son over her fifth marriage, to a man 45 year her junior.

Relatives said she died at home in New York surrounded by friends and family.

TV series

Holm was born in New York and spent much of her life in her apartment on Central Park West, where she passed away on Sunday.

Her first major role Broadway role came in a 1940 revival of The Time of Your Life, co-starring fellow newcomer Gene Kelly, and in 1943 she earned wide recognition portraying Ado Annie in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!.

She moved on the Hollywood, winning the Academy Award in 1947 for best supporting actress for her performance in Gentlemen's Agreement. There were also Oscar nominations for Come to the Stable (1949) and All About Eve (1950).

But Holm's heart lay on the East Coast, and she returned to New York and the theatre after a few years in Hollywood.

She also appeared in numerous television series in the 1970s and 1980s, including Fantasy Island and Falcon Crest.

Later in life she was caught up in a bitter family legal battle that pitted her two sons against her and her much younger fifth husband, former waiter Frank Basile.

The court case over investments and inheritance wiped out much of Holm's savings and left her dependent on Social Security in her final years.