Cartoon legend Lucille Bliss, famous for voicing Smurfette in long-running series The Smurfs, has died.

The character actress passed away on Thursday (08Nov12) at the age of 96 after a battle with a staph infection and pneumonia, according to a report published on industry website BehindTheVoiceActors.com.

Throughout her career, Bliss voiced a host of popular cartoon characters, including Crusader Rabbit, Smurfette and Ms. Bitters on the Nickelodeon show Invader ZIM.

She voiced the wicked stepsister Anastasia Tremaine in Walt Disney classic Cinderella in 1950, and also loaned her talents to Alice in Wonderland the following year (51).

Pop star Katy Perry took on Bliss' most famous role of Smurfette in a 2011 movie reboot of The Smurfs, and she is due to reprise the character for a 2013 sequel.