Actor Phyllis Somerville dies at 76

Washington D.C.: Phyllis Somerville, an actor with a lengthy career of roles in film, television and Broadway productions, has died. She was 76.

According to Fox News, Somerville’s manager Paul Hilepo says the actor died Thursday in New York City of natural causes.

Somerville, who was a native of Iowa, moved to New York in the 1970s. She most recently appeared onstage in the Broadway production of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’

During her television career, she appeared in ‘The Big C,’ ‘NYPD Blue’ and was in films like ‘Arthur’ and was among ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ cast members nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Somerville’s last film credit was ‘Poms,’ in which she appeared alongside Diane Keaton and Pam Grier in a comedy about older women who form a cheerleading squad.

In ‘The Big C,’ she played the foul-mouthed neighbour to Laura Linney’s character, a straight-laced history teacher who is given a grim cancer prognosis.