Margaret Blye dead: Italian Job actress was 73

Margaret “Maggie” Blye, who starred opposite Michael Caine and Noel Coward in the 1969 British heist movie The Italian Job, died March 24 at her home in West Hollywood after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 73.

Her agent Kristin Nava confirmed the news to EW.

Blye played Lorna in The Italian Job, the groovy girlfriend and partner in crime to Caine’s lovable criminal Charlie Croker.

Born in Houston, Blye studied at the University of Texas and UCLA. After being spotted by an agent in Los Angeles, she landed her first role in Summer and Smoke.

She also appeared in Hombre with Paul Newman, Hard Times with James Coburn and Charles Bronson, Waterhole #3 with Coburn and Carroll O’Connor, The Entity with Barbara Hershey and Ron Silver, Diamonds for Breakfast with Marcello Mastroianni, and Man in the Chair with Christopher Plummer.

Her TV credits included Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, Hart to Hart, and In the Heat of the Night.

Blye is survived by her sister, casting director Judy Blye Wilson; her brother, Richard Blye; and many nieces and nephews.