PORTLAND Mason Schuyler, the daughter of Huddersfield-born film star James Mason, has died in California.

Mrs Schuyler died at St John's Hospital Health Center in Santa Monica after a long illness. She was 55.

Her husband, Rob, said of the child actress, turned writer: "She was extre- mely unique as a person, witty and funny. Just a very clever person, elegant, beautiful, charming."

Mrs Schuyler was a writer, like her late mother, Pamela. She was working on a book about her late father before she died.

James Mason married Portland's mother, Pamela Kellino, in 1941.

The couple , who divorced in 1964, had two children, Portland and a son, Morgan, who was a close aide to former US President Ronald Reagan, who died on Saturday.

Portland grew up in a Beverly Hills mansion.

As children, she and her brother were widely known for a reportedly non-conventional upbringing, staying up late and partying.

Friends said Portland tried to retreat from that image and, as an adult, shied away from photographers and the public eye.