Los Angeles - British actress Jean Simmons, an Emmy Award winner whose career included roles in Hamlet and Spartacus, died in California on Friday at the age of 80.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, Simmons, who earned two Oscar nominations during a long career that spanned seven decades, died at her home in Santa Monica after losing a battle with lung cancer.

Although she worked mostly in television in her later years, appearing in the hit 1983 mini-series The Thorn Birds - for which she obtained an Emmy Award - Simmons gained fame in the 1950s and 1960s after starring in several hit films.

Her career took off after she appeared as the doomed Ophelia opposite Laurence Olivier in the legendary actor's 1948 production of Hamlet. The actress' performance earned her the first of two Academy Award nominations.

Among her notable early roles were playing the young Estella in David Lean's classic 1946 adaptation of Great Expectations.

Later films included Guys and Dolls, Spartacus and 1969's The Happy Ending, which earned her a second Oscar nod for her portrayal of an alcoholic wife.

Simmons was married twice - to actor Stewart Granger from 1950 to 1960, and to director Richard Brooks from 1960 to 1977. Both marriages ended in divorce.