Oscar-winning actress Celeste Holm dies, age 95

Actress Celeste Holm poses at the premiere of the film ''The Women'', directed by Diane English, in Los Angeles September 4, 2008.

(Reuters) - Stage and film actress Celeste Holm, who won an Oscar for her role in the 1947 movie "Gentleman's Agreement," has died at home in New York City, age 95, according to reports citing her niece.

Niece Amy Phillips told television news network CNN Holm had been admitted to a New York City hospital last week, but her husband took her home this past Friday.

"She passed peacefully in her home in her own bed with her husband and friends and family nearby," Phillips told CNN.

Holm was born and raised in New York City and began performing as a teenager in school plays and later in college before taking up acting as a profession.

Her first major Broadway role came in a 1940 revival of "The Time of Your Life," co-starring fellow newcomer Gene Kelly, and by 1943 she had earned wide recognition portraying Ado Annie in Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!".

Like many theater actors, Holm went to Hollywood where she won the role in director Elia Kazan's tale of anti-semitism, "Gentleman's Agreement," that won her the best supporting actress Oscar.

She went on to work on several movies including 1950's "All About Eve," and returned to her first love, Broadway. Over the years, Holm mastered the stage and screen, and worked in numerous television series of the 1970s and 1980s, including "Fantasy Island," "Falcon Crest" and "Archie Bunker's Place."

(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler)