Anne Heche, star with troubled life, dies of crash injuries

Actor Anne Heche has died of injuries suffered in a fiery car crash. She was 53.

Spokeswoman Holly Baird said Sunday night that Heche been peacefully taken off life support.

Heche had been on life support at a Los Angeles burn center after suffering a severe brain injury when her car crashed into a home Aug. 5, according to a statement released Thursday by a representative on behalf of her family and friends. She had not been expected to survive the crash, in which her car was embedded in the house as flames erupted. She was declared brain dead Thursday night, but had remained on life support for possible organ donation. Her heart stopped Sunday.

Heche played opposite Harrison Ford, Johnny Deep and other stars during a steady screen career that contrasted with personal chapters of turmoil.

An Ohio native, Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera Another World from 1987 to 1991. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for the role. In the late 1990s she became one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films. In 1997 alone, she co-starred with Depp in Donnie Brasco and with Ford in “Six Days, Seven Nights.

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