Veteran film, TV and stage actress Rita Gam has died at 88.

Her publicist Nancy Willen said she died in Los Angeles of respiratory failure.

Gam starred with Gregory Peck in 1954's Night People and 1971's Shoot Out and with Jack Palance in 1954's Sign Of The Pagan. She was also in the films Hannibal, King Of Kings and No Exit.

Her television credits included The Rockford Files and Mannix.

She was born in Pittsburgh in 1927 and made her Broadway debut in 1946 before going on to a decades-long career in film and television.

Gam was married to the late director Sidney Lumet from 1949 until 1955 and was one of her close friend Grace Kelly's bridesmaids when the actress married Prince Rainier of Monaco.

She is survived by a daughter and son from her marriage to publisher Thomas Guinzburg, and three grandchildren.