Shelley Morrison, an actress with a 50-year career who was best known for playing a memorable maid on “Will and Grace,” died Sunday, her publicist said.

Morrison died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from heart failure after a brief illness. She was 83.

Morrison played Rosario Salazar, a maid from El Salvador, in the original run of “Will and Grace” from 1999 to 2006, becoming part of a cast that won a Screen Actors Guild award for best ensemble in a comedy series.

Her character was supposed to appear in one show and be gone. However, Morrison made such an impact on viewers with her portrayal of Rosario Salazar on “Will & Grace” that she ended up appearing in 68 episodes.

“Rosario is one of my all-time favorite characters,” Morrison had said recently. “She reminds me a lot of my own mother, who loved animals and children, but she would not suffer fools. It is very significant to me that we were able to show an older, Hispanic woman who is bright and smart and can hold her own.

Mullally, who played Morrison’s boss Karen Walker, praised the actress on Twitter.

“My heart is heavy. putting shelley, her beloved husband walter & their children in the light. thank you for your friendship & partnership, shell. you accomplished wonderful things in this world. you will be missed,” she tweeted.

Eric McCormack, who starred as Will in the NBC sitcom, recalled Morrison on Twitter as a “beautiful soul” and wonderful actor. “Her work as Rosario, season after season, was as nuanced and real as it was hysterical,” McCormack tweeted.