The Christopher Reeve Foundation, which backs research on the treatment of spinal cord injuries and helps victims of such injuries, said Reeve, a nonsmoker and mother of a teenage son, had died on Monday night.

"The cause was lung cancer," the foundation said.

Reeve devoted herself to her husband after a riding accident left him paralyzed from the neck down in 1995. Christopher Reeve, best known for his role in the"Superman" movies, died in October 2004.

The actress, who put her career on hold to nurse her sick husband, leaves behind a 13-year-old son, Will.

Reeve's announcement last August that she was suffering from lung cancer came as a shock because she was a nonsmoker.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)