Swedish actress Anita Bjork has passed away at the age of 89.

The star of stage and screen died in Stockholm on 24 October (12). Details of her death have not yet been released.

Starting her career in theatre in Sweden, she made her film breakthrough in Alf Sjoberg's 1951 movie Miss Julie, which was awarded a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

The role caught the attention of Alfred Hitchcock, who hired her to play the female lead in 1953's I Confess.

However, film bosses decided to cast Anne Baxter in the part instead after it emerged that Bjork had an illegitimate child with her lover Stig Dagerman.

She regularly worked with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, performing in 12 of his theatre productions.

Her last appearance on stage was in a 2009 production of Love Letters in Stockholm.