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She was the face of ‘Laura’, the bewitching portrait in oil who captivated the the heart and mind of Dana Andrews in Otto Preminger’s 1944 film noir. Most notably, she was the jealous, narcissistic femme fatale Ellen Berent Harland, opposite Cornel Wilde, in the film version of the best-selling novel, ‘Leave Her to Heaven’ by Ben Ames. The scene on the lake where she engineers the death of her husband’s disabled younger brother, is an object lesson in chilling impassivity. The role would secure her an Oscar nomination.

In real life, she was plagued with mental health problems, her 1979 autobiography detailing endless bouts of depression and the occasional lapse into delusion. Doubtful that she would ever conquer her illness, but steadfast in her refusal to be defeated by it, she wrote at the time:

“Depression is only a temporary thing. I’ve often thought that if people who committed suicide could wake up the next morning they’d ask themselves, ‘Now why in the world did I do that?’”