Hollywood actor Sally Ann Howes passed away in her sleep

Sally Ann Howes, 91 died in her sleep on Sunday. Her son Andrew Hart Adler confirmed the news on Wednesday in an interview.

Toby Howes, her nephew, also went on Twitter about how the family hoped she would “hang on” until the Christmas showing of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But she died peacefully in her sleep.

Sally died on Sunday, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The cause of Howes’ death is still not known.

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Howes, made her big-screen debut at the age of 12 in the 1943 film Thursday’s Child, in which she played a schoolgirl who became a successful performer. Her parents, Bobby Howes and Patricia Malone are also actors, and she comes from a long line of them.

She appeared in almost 140 films, musicals, plays, and television productions for five decades, including the movie adaptations of Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby and The History of Mr. Polly.

Her most famous role was Truly Scrumptious in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which became a Christmas staple, in the United Kingdom.

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Howes also built a name for herself in the world of theatre. In 1962, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in Brigadoon at the New York City Opera.