Marcheline Bertrand, mother of Angelina Jolie, has died of cancer

Story: Splash News and Picture Agency

Bertrand, who battled ovarian cancer for six years, died on Saturday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in LA, Jolie said in a statement released by her manager. It is believed Bertrand died aged 56.

The Mr and Mrs Smith star, 31, was accompanied by Brad Pitt, 43, and her older brother, James Haven, at the hospital, according to the news release.

Bertrand - who had small roles in the 1982 movie Lookin' To Get Out and 1983's The Man Who Loved Women, raised Jolie and her brother after divorcing their father, Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight.

The family are making arrangements for a private funeral. Instead of flowers, the family asked for donations to be made to the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai.

While estranged from her father, Jolie was very close to her mother. She had installed Bertrand in a three-bedroom suite at the Raffles L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills at a cost of around $100,000 a year.

Jolie, who has two adopted children, Maddox, five, and two-year-old Zahara, flew her ailing mother from LA to Paris last year so she could be there for the birth of her baby daughter Shiloh, now eight months old, with Brad Pitt. But due to the miserable weather, Bertrand then jetted with the Hollywood couple and Zahara and Maddox to a chateau in the south of France. Friends say her health and mood altered constantly from sprightly to desperately weak, depending on her treatment.

A member of staff at the Raffles L'Ermitage Hotel was quoted as saying last April:

"Sometimes she has her meals left outside the door. Usually something healthy like fish or steamed vegetables. Often, we don't see her for days around the hotel." Her treatments included a hysterectomy and chemotherapy.

In December, Jolie appeared on a US chat show and confirmed her mother's battle with ovarian cancer, but remained optimistic that she would win her fight against the disease. She told Larry King: "She has fought for six years and she's a remarkable woman, she's very, very strong and her spirit remains unbroken."