LOND ON (Reuters) - Veteran actress Anna Massey, best known for her supporting roles as a lonely spinster, has died at the age of 73 from cancer, British media reported. Massey made her professional debut on stage at the age of 17 and enjoyed a career in film and television spanning five decades, including roles in Alfred Hitchcocks Frenzy and an adaptation of The Importance of Being Ernest. She won a BAFTA for her role in a 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookners novel Hotel du Lac. In 2004 Massey was awarded a CBE, an honour from the Queen, for her services to acting. Two years later she played former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the television drama Pinochet in Suburbia. I find acting incredibly difficult it demands much more of my time than it does for some people, the actress told The Independent newspaper in 1996. Im not instinctive. It takes enormous discipline and bravery to get me there. Massey was married to Sherlock Holmes actor Jeremy Brett for four years until 1962. She met her second husband, Russian scientist Uri Andres, 27 years later. She will be remembered as a loving wife and mother, a cherished grandmother, a generous colleague and, always, a consummate professional, her agent said in a statement.