(Video) Patricia Neal Dies at 84 -... | Gather

Klaatu barada nikto: RIP: Patricia Neal, 84

Her life was one of the most amazing human interest stories of the twentieth century. She had a series of strokes in 1965. She was pregnant at the time, and was in a coma for 21 days. Her condition was so critical that Variety reported her death. That report turned out to be, in Twain's words, greatly exaggerated. Her baby survived and was born healthy, and Patricia herself recovered sufficiently to get an Oscar nomination just four years later, for The Subject was Roses. The story of her astounding recovery was the subject of a 1981 TV movie called The Patricia Neal Story, which starred Glenda Jackson.

Before her stroke, Neal had won the Best Actress Oscar for Hud, and long before that had won a Tony in the very first Tony ceremony, way back in 1947, for Another Part of the Forest. She was just 21 at the time. After her success on Broadway, she went to Hollywood to appear in The Fountainhead, during the filming of which she started a notorious affair with Gary Cooper, who was married and 25 years older. Believe me, that was a major scandal by 1949 standards. Their relationship continued for some years, and Coop even separated from his wife in 1951 with the intention of marrying Neal. Never happened. Coop eventually went back to his wife and Neal settled down with the writer Roald Dahl, the guy who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, who was only ten years older than she. They stayed together 30 years and had five children.