Rip Alert-- Desperate Housewives and Sopranos Actress Is Dead

 

                    Actress and singer Polly Bergen, who appeared in Desperate Housewives and The Sopranos, has died aged 84.

                    Bergen was perhaps best known for her role in the original version of Cape Fear opposite Gregory Peck but had a late career resurgence in the smash hit American TV shows.

She died at her home in Connecticut, USA, today, having battled emphysema in the late 1990s.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of legendary actress and long-time friend and client, Polly Bergen," her publicist Judy Katz said in a statement.

"She died peacefully at her home in Southbury, Conn. this morning at 11.10am, surrounded by her family, long-time personal manager, Jan McCormack and close friends."

Bergen won an Emmy in 1958 for her role as Helen Morgan on the 1950s anthology series Playhouse 90.

She was a regular in TV movies and miniseries in the 1980s, most notably in the 1983 epic The Winds of War and the 1988 sequel, War and Remembrance, for which she was nominated for a best supporting actress Emmy in 1989.