Ms. Heche, who won a Daytime Emmy early in her career and whose films included “Donnie Brasco” and “Wag the Dog,” had been critically injured in a car crash.
Hollywood tried to slot her into cookie-cutter blockbusters, sometimes successfully. She was at her best playing competent women in extreme situations.
The actress, 53, has been in a coma since shortly after the car she was in crashed into a Los Angeles home last week, her publicist said in a statement.