Angelina Jolie has revealed that Brad Pitt would send her romantic handwritten letters when they were living apart because of work.

The Oscar-winning actress admitted that her 50-year-old fiance would write her love letters when she was in Australia filming Unbroken, while he was shooting war drama Fury in London.

"He was supportive from a distance, and it was quite romantic in a way," the 39-year-old told Australia's TV Week.

"We decided to be of that time, when we could imagine he was in the European theatre and I was in the Pacific theatre, and we wrote handwritten letters to each other that were very connecting for us, thinking of the people that were separated for months, if not years, at a time back then."

Angelina - who has six children with Brad - also revealed how she was able to show a rough cut of Unbroken to World War II hero Louis Zamperini before he died on July 2.

In the film, which will be released in the UK in December, he is portrayed by former Skins star Jack O'Connell.

"I brought him the film on my laptop in the hospital, and it was amazing seeing someone at the end of their life watching their life unfold again, at the same time their body was shutting down," she recalled.

"He wanted me to make the movie to show something hopeful about the strength of the human spirit that can pull us through."

The actress, who underwent a double mastectomy in 2013, added: " He reminded me to have my surgery in the year that I did, and he reminded me to appreciate every day of my life."