Oscar winner Teresa Wright dies

Teresa Wright (l) starred with Greer Garson in Mrs Miniver

Actress Teresa Wright, who won an Academy Award for her role in Mrs Miniver, has died at the age of 86.

Such was the impact of Wright's acting debut that she was nominated for Oscars for her first three movies.

Her first nomination for The Little Foxes in 1942, was followed by a double Oscar nomination for Mrs Miniver and The Pride of the Yankees in 1943.

Her daughter, Mary-Kelly Busch, said Wright died of a heart attack at a hospital in Connecticut.

Born in New York in October 1918, Wright enjoyed starring and supporting roles in more than 20 films during the 1940s and 50s, despite not conforming to the traditional image of a glamorous Hollywood actress.

Actors treated like cattle

Her independent streak saw her fired from the Goldwyn studio for being "unco-operative" after refusing to promote one of her films in New York.

At the time she blamed illness, but said she did not regret losing the $5,000-a-week contract claiming the studio system treated actors like "cattle".

She also declined to do the requisite photoshoots in swimsuits, insisting acting was the only attribute she could offer.

Among her other film credits were Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt in 1943, the classic The Best Years of Our Live in 1946 and The Men opposite Marlon Brando (1950).

The actress was married to screenwriter Niven Busch for a decade, with whom she had two children. She ended the marriage in 1952, citing her husband's refusal to let her have any say in running their house or raising children.

Wright took a break from acting after marrying her second husband, playwright Robert Anderson, whom she later divorced - but returned to the New York stage in 1962 for Mary Mary.

She received glowing reviews for her perfomance in a 1975 Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, and went on to take cameo roles in films including John Grisham's The Rainmaker in 1997.