Oscar-winning Irish actress Brenda Fricker has died at the age of 81, her agent confirmed in a statement to the Press Association.
Agent pays tribute
Phil Belfield said on Friday: “We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her. I was honoured to know, love and work with her and she will always have a place in my heart and in the heart of so many film and TV fans the world over.”
Oscar win and career highlights
Fricker became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, taking home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in the 1989 biopic My Left Foot. The film tells the story of Christy Brown, an Irish man born with cerebral palsy who could control only his left foot.
She was also widely known for playing the Pigeon Lady in the 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, a homeless woman in New York’s Central Park. Other notable film roles included So I Married an Axe Murderer and Veronica Guerin (2003), in which she starred alongside Cate Blanchett.
Television and later work
Fricker was part of the original cast of the BBC medical drama Casualty. Her later roles included the TV adaptation of Graham Norton’s first novel Holding, directed by Kathy Burke, and the Channel 5 drama series The Catch.
Mr Belfield noted that “Brenda’s versatility was renowned” and praised her most recent solo film performance in Tadhg O’Sullivan’s The Swallow, calling it “the truth and majesty of Brenda as an actor” and “a thing of beauty”.
Memoir and civic honour
Fricker’s memoir She Died Young appeared on the Irish Sunday Times bestseller list. She was recently granted the Freedom of the City of Dublin, an honour Mr Belfield said she was “particularly thrilled and proud of”.
