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Actress Gloria Stuart, who played an elderly shipwreck survivor in the film Titanic, has died at the age of 100.

The blonde actress appeared in several films during the 1930s, before retiring from acting in 1946.

Stuart resumed acting in later years and at 87 became the oldest actor ever to be nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Rose Calvert, a 101-year-old Titanic survivor.

Stuart died in her sleep in her Los Angeles home, her family said.

The native Californian also starred in The Invisible Man and two Shirley Temple movies.

Stuart, who studied drama and philosophy in college, helped found the Screen Actors Guild, a trade union that represents actors.

She was under contract with Universal Studios and 20th Century in the 1930s.

The Hollywood veteran was diagnosed with breast cancer about five years ago, but survived the disease.

"She just paid no attention to illness. She was a very strong woman and had other fish to fry," Stuart's daughter, Sylvia Thompson, said.

Titanic became the world's highest-grossing movie of all time in 1997, until the movie Avatar claimed the title in 2009.