Lisa Blount | Actress, 53

Actress Lisa Blount, known best for her role in 1982's

An Officer and a Gentleman

, died this week at her Arkansas home after battling chronic illness and complaining of back and neck pain, Little Rock police said Thursday.

Ms. Blount, who won an Academy Award in 2001 for producing the live-action short film The Accountant, was 53. Police were called to the home she shared with her husband, actor and director Ray McKinnon, on Wednesday after her mother found Ms. Blount dead in her bedroom.

Ms. Blount's mother told police that the actress had suffered for 17 years from a condition similar to multiple sclerosis and that she had complained recently of back and neck pain. McKinnon, who recently played a football coach in the hit film The Blind Side, was out of state at the time of his wife's death.

No foul play was suspected. She was found in her bed holding a cell phone in her left hand, according to Little Rock police. She last used the phone Monday afternoon, when she told a friend that she wasn't feeling well, police said.

She was born in Fayetteville, N.C. She gained fame - and a Golden Globe nomination - in An Officer and a Gentleman, in which she portrayed a friend to Debra Winger's character.

- AP