Actress Susannah York sits on stage in costume inside the Off-Broadway theater where she is appearing in Ibsen's “Hedda Gabler” in New York City in this May 4, 1981 file photo. -AP Photo

LONDON: British actress Susannah York, a 1960s beauty who was nominated for an Oscar for the 1969 film “They Shoot Horses, Don't They?”, has died at the age of 72, a newspaper reported Saturday.

York had been suffering from cancer and died on Friday surrounded by family, her son Orlando Wells told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

“She had advanced bone marrow cancer which she had an operation for. But, last Thursday, she had a scan and then the descent was fast. In the end, her death was painless and quick,” he said.

Wells, himself an actor, added: “She was an absolutely fantastic mother, who was very down to earth... Both (his sister) Sasha and I feel incredibly lucky to have her as a mother.”

York acted on the stage, on television and in films, and was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress in “They Shoot Horses”, the tale of a disparate group of characters taking part in a dance marathon.

She also starred in the multi-Oscar-winning story of Thomas More, “A Man for All Seasons” (1966).