British actress Valerie Hobson, best known for her films "The Bride of Frankenstein" and "Great Expectations," died of a heart attack at a London Hospital on Nov. 13, 1998. She was 81.

According to the London Times, Hobson began her career as a ballet dancer when she entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts at age 9. For six years, she studied under one of the leading teachers at the time, Espinosa. When she caught scarlet fever which ruined her dance career with a premature lengthening of her limbs, she took up the theatre, making her stage debut at 15 in Ball at the Savoy at Drury Lane.

Her final performance was as Anna in the 1953 production of The King and I at Drury Lane. She then left acting to become a full-time wife and mother.

Her best remembered movie roles are as the baron's wife in "Bride of Frankenstein" and as Estella in David Lean's "Great Expectations". She also starred in "The Drum," "The Spy in Black," "The Rocking Horse Winner" and "The Card," among others.

In her private life, Hobson stood beside her second husband John Profumo through his resignation as Secretary of State for War and from the House of Commons when he was discovered having an affair with prostitute Christine Keeler. At the time, Keeler was also involved with a Soviet military attache. The 1963 events were later the basis for the 1989 movie, "Scandal." Hobson is survived by her husband, two sons from her first marriage and the only son of her second, author David Profumo.

-- By Christine Ehren