LOS ANGELES - American film and television actress Mary Pat Gleason died on Tuesday night (June 2) aged 70, according to USA Today.

The actress, who was best known for her roles in the ongoing sitcom Mom and the 2004 romance-comedy movie A Cinderella Story, lost a five-year battle with cancer, according to a family statement released by her manager, Todd Justice.

Her friend, the actor Ron Fassler, posted a tribute on Facebook calling Gleason, "one of the dearest and sweetest people I have ever had the pleasure to know".

"She was so much more than a wonderful actress: she was one of a kind. So caring, so funny, and so delicious to be around, that I find it hard to imagine a world without her shining presence and smiling face."

Her last film appearance was in the 2018 Netflix movie Sierra Burgess Is A Loser, in which she played higher education counsellor to the movie's protagonist Sierra, played by actress Shannon Purser.

She played the role of Mary, a member of an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group on the sitcom Mom. In an episode that aired in October 2019, her character, who often shared bizarre anecdotes with the group died of a brain aneurysm during one of the AA meetings, and that was her final television appearance.

Her other television appearances included short roles in Friends, Will & Grace and How To Get Away With Murder.