'Three's Company' Actress Ann Wedgeworth Dead at 83: Reports

On Thursday, Ann Wedgeworth — who was best known for her role on Three’s Company — died at the age of 83, according to multiple reports.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Diánna Martin — one of Wedgeworth’s daughter — said her mother passed away in a nursing home close to New York City following a long illness. Variety also reported that she died peacefully and surrounded by her family.

Before making a name for herself in TV and film, Wedgeworth performed on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for best performance by a featured actress in a play for her work in Neil Simon’s Chapter Two in 1978.

One year later, she joined the cast of Three’s Company as Lana Shields, but was written off after nine episodes.

In 1980, Wedgeworth told PEOPLE that she was abruptly dropped from the show two weeks before the holiday hiatus. “It was horrifying,” she said. “I had no warning or explanation. Suddenly everyone was very cold to me. I went to tell John [Ritter] goodbye, and he was shocked — no one had told him. Joyce DeWitt, at least, called to say something to me about it.”

Deadline reported that Wedgeworth is survived by her husband Ernie Martin and daughters Danae Torn and Diánna. Previously, Wedgeworth was married to actor Rip Torn.

In 1980, Wedgeworth briefly told PEOPLE about the differences between her two husbands.

“We both had violent tempers; two Aquariuses, you know. There was no way,” she said about her five-year marriage to Torn. But she revealed that her second husband, director and acting coach Ernie Martin — who asked her to marry him on their first date — was the perfect match for her. “He’s so good to me. He’s a Sagittarius — fire — and I’m air.”