Leonardo DiCaprio: Gloria Stuart was a fantastic actress

The late Gloria Stuart was a fantastic actress, according to Leonardo DiCaprio.

Stuart, who passed away earlier this week, starred alongside DiCaprio in 1998's Titanic.

"Gloria Stuart was a force both on and off screen. An amazingly sweet person, a fantastic actress, and someone who always fought for what she believed in," he said in a statement. 

She was one of the "last great actresses from the golden era of Hollywood", he noted, adding that she will be missed.

The actress worked on dozens of movies in the 1930s and 1940s, including The Invisible Man, Maybe It's Love and I'll Tell the World.

She returned to acting in the 1970s, starring on a number of TV movies and shows, before taking on the role of an elderly Rose in James Cameron's epic about the ill-fated ship.

Stuart was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar and Golden Globe for her role in Titanic and won a Screen Actors Guild Award.