LONDON, ENGLAND - US ACTRESS Winona Ryder was briefly taken to hospital in London on Wednesday after falling ill on a flight from Los Angeles, her publicist said, adding that she had recovered.

She was treated for an unspecified problem by doctors on arrival at London's Heathrow Airport, he said, confirming comments by spokesmen for a local hospital and airline British Airways.

'She did fall ill on a plane and as a precautionary measure they took her to a hospital. She has already been released from hospital,' said her publicist Mara Buxbaum.

Earlier a spokesman for Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, near Heathrow in west London, said the 37-year-old Ryder was treated by doctors immediately on landing.

A British Airways spokesman said: 'The captain of BA282, which was travelling from LA to Heathrow, requested a priority landing as a female passenger required medical attention.

'The passenger was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The plane touched down shortly before noon UK time,' added the spokesman, saying cabin crew looked after her while on board.

Ryder is well known for films including Little Women, Edward Scissorhands, with former boyfriend Johnny Depp, Age of Innocence, and Girl, Interrupted.

She hit the headlines for shoplifting in Saks Fifth Avenue in December 2001, since when she has largely been out of the spotlight.

She is in the cast of the latest Star Trek movie, due out next year, in which she plays Amanda Grayson, mother of famous half-Vulcan science officer Spock on board the USS Enterprise. -- AFP