Actress Jean Anderson has died at the age of 93.

The star, whose career spanned 60 years, was probably best known for her role in Seventies television show The Brothers.

She was born in Eastbourne in 1907 to a wealthy cloth merchant and named Mary Heriot Jean Anderson.

She was a talented violinist and dreamed of becoming a professional musician before taking up a career in acting.

She was also a fine tennis player and played at Wimbledon as a junior in the Twenties.

Her life in the spotlight began with a job at the Richmond Repertory Theatre in 1931 and continued until she was well into her 90s with numerous film, stage and television roles.

She was rarely cast in romantic roles but made her name playing a succession of maiden aunts, sinister nannies and domineering mothers-in-law.

Film roles included the mother in the Railway Children in which she starred alongside Jenny Agutter.

More recent appearances included parts in Heartbeat, Keeping Up Appearances, Inspector Morse and Casualty.

Her marriage to theatre director Peter Powell was dissolved in 1949. They had one daughter.