London: Actress Angharad Rees, best known for her role in the Seventies TV drama Poldark, has died following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
A statement released by her family said: 'Angharad passed away peacefully with her family at her bedside. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.'
The Welsh star, 63, was married to the late Dynasty actor Christopher Cazenove for more than 20 years and they had two sons together, Linford and Rhys, 35.
Linford, the elder of the two, died in a car crash on the M11 in Essex in 1999, aged 26.
Rees starred as servant Demelza in the BBC's 18th century costume drama Poldark after first appearing on screen in The Way We Live Now in 1969.
She went on to star in a number of film and TV roles including Under Milk Wood and Moments with Keith Michell for which she was nominated for a ‘Best Newcomer’ award.
Rees also appeared in Dennis Potter’s Joe’s Ark, the cult classic Hands of the Ripper, As You Like It, Robin Hood, Remmington Steel with Pierce Brosnan, Jane Eyre, Love Story and Little Girl In Blue Velvet.
She had an extensive theatre career on the West End stage, including A Winter’s Tale, Richard II, Romeo and Juliet Hamlet, John Osbourne’s A Picture of Dorian Gray, and An Ideal Husband. In radio, she won Prix Italia for Florent and the Tuxedo Millions in 1982 and was nominated for Best Actress in Radio in 1985.
Rees and Cazenove divorced in 1994 and she went on to marry David McAlpine in 2005, with whom she lived in London. In addition to her acting success, she founded an eponymous titled jewellery design company based in Knightsbridge with her pieces featured in the film Elizabeth.
She remained an active supporter of the arts and was an honorary fellow of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
Her funeral will be private but there are plans for a service in celebration of her life which will be announced at a later date.
