Jill Clayburgh, whose Broadway and Hollywood acting career stretched through the decades, highlighted by her Oscar-nominated portrayal of a divorcee exploring her sexuality in the 1978 film An Unmarried Woman, died Friday. She was 66.

Her husband, Tony Award-winning playwright David Rabe, said she died following a 21-year battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She was surrounded by her family and brother as she spent her final moments at her home in Lakeville, Conn., he said.

Jill Clayburgh, seen in New York City in 2007, was nominated for Oscars and Emmys. She said she never had a career plan as an actor. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

She dealt with the disease courageously, quietly and privately, Rabe said, and conducted herself with enormous grace "and made it into an opportunity for her children to grow and be human."

Clayburgh came from a privileged New York family. Her father was vice-president of two large companies, and her mother was a secretary for Broadway producer David Merrick. Her grandmother, Alma Clayburgh, was an opera singer and New York socialite.

Growing up in a such a rich cultural mix, she could easily have been overwhelmed. Instead, as she said in interviews, she asserted herself with wilful and destructive behaviour — so much so that her parents took her to a psychiatrist when she was nine.

Amid studies in religion, philosophy and literature, Clayburgh also took drama classes when she attended Sarah Lawrence College, north of New York City. She and her friend Robert De Niro acted in a film, The Wedding Party, directed by a Sarah Lawrence graduate, Brian DePalma. After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree, she began performing in repertory and in Broadway musicals.

The unglamorous side

During a 2005 interview, Clayburgh explained the unglamorous side of acting.

"One of the funny things about actors is that people look at their careers in retrospect, as if they have a plan," she said.

"Mostly, you just get a call. You're just sitting there going, 'Oh, my God. I'm never going to work again. Oh, God. I'm too old. Maybe I should go and work for Howard Dean.' And then it changes."

Besides appearing in such movies asI'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, Silver Streak and Running With Scissors, Clayburgh's Broadway credits include Noel Coward's Design for Living, the original production of Tom Stoppard's Jumpers and the Tony Award-winning musicals Pippin and The Rothschilds.

Clayburgh was also nominated for an Academy Award forStarting Over, a comedy about a divorced man, played by Burt Reynolds, who falls in love but can't get over his ex-wife. She appeared on TV shows including Dirty Sexy Money and was nominated for two Emmys: for best actress in 1975 for her work on Hustling and for her guest turn on Nip/Tuck on FX in 2005.

She is survived by three children, including actress Lily Rabe, Michael Rabe and stepson Jason Rabe.

There will be no funeral, David Rabe said. The family will have a memorial in about six months, though plans have not been finalized.