( CNN ) -- Academy-Award winning actress Patricia Neal , whose off-screen life was one of dramatic triumph over adversity , died Sunday at her home in Edgartown , Massachusetts . She was 84 . Neal died of complications from lung cancer , according to the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center . `` The theatre and movie world has lost a great talent but , at the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center , we have also lost a friend , '' said a statement from the Knoxville , Tennessee , center that bears the actress ' name and assists people in recovering from strokes and brain injuries . Neal suffered several strokes and kept acting . Neal is best known for her role as Alma in `` Hud , '' where she played a housekeeper who did not fall for cowboy Paul Newman 's charms . She won an Academy Award for the role . Soon after her Oscar win , Neal suffered back-to-back strokes -- three in all . For a while , she lost her ability to speak and walk . But she returned to the screen -- and to another Oscar nomination -- for the movie `` The Subject Was Roses . '' `` Ms. Neal took great joy in meeting patients and their caregivers every time she visited Knoxville , '' said a statement from the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center where the Neal rehabilitation center is located . `` We will always remember her elegance and sincerity . She will be greatly missed . '' Neal also won a Golden Globe award for her performance as Olivia Walton in 1971 's `` The Homecoming : A Christmas Story , '' the television movie that served as the pilot episode for the TV series `` The Waltons . '' Concerns over Neal 's health and her ability to handle the difficulties of a weekly television series led the producers to offer the role to Michael Learned when the show when into production .
NEW : Neal died of complications from lung cancer . She is best known for her role in `` Hud , '' for which she won an Oscar . Shortly afterward , she suffered three strokes . Neal recovered and continued acting .