Washington DC [US], July 17 (ANI): Actress Brenda Fricker, who became the first Irish actress to win an Oscar for her role opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in 1989’s ‘My Left Foot’ and impressed viewers as the Pigeon Lady in 1992’s ‘Home Alone 2,’ passed away on Thursday in Dublin at the age of 81, reported Variety.
“We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,” Fricker’s agent, Phil Belfield, confirmed her death to the BBC as quoted by Variety. “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,” added Belfield as quoted by Variety.
Fricker won many accolades across her career, including the inaugural 2008 Maureen O’Hara award from the Kerry Film Festival, which honours women that have excelled on film.
According to the outlet, Fricker was born in Dublin on February 17, 1945, to language teacher Bina Murphy and Desmond Frederick Fricker, a journalist for the Irish Times. Her first film appearance was when she was 19, in a small uncredited part in the 1964 drama ‘Of Human Bondage.’
After working in small roles in various British soap operas and films, Fricker first gained attention from audiences when she starred in the original cast of ‘Casualty,’ the long-running BBC medical drama following the Accident and Emergency Department of the fictional Holby City hospital.
The show, which is still running, debuted in 1986, and Fricker starred as Nurse Megan Roach from the first episode. Megan was one of the most focused characters for the first five seasons of the show, until Fricker left after 65 episodes, reported Variety.
In the biographical drama ‘My Left Foot,’ Fricker portrayed Bridget Fagan Brown, a protective and loving mother who gave birth to nearly two dozen children (nine of whom died in infancy) including Christy Brown, an Irish writer and painter born with cerebral palsy.
The film, which was based on Brown’s 1954 memoir, was directed by Jim Sheridan and starred Day-Lewis as Brown, with Ray McAnally, Hugh O’Conor, Fiona Shaw, and Cyril Cusack in supporting roles. For her performance as Bridget, Fricker won best supporting actress at the 1990 Academy Awards.
During her speech, she memorably dedicated her award to the woman she portrayed, saying: “Anybody who gives birth 22 times deserves one of these.”
Following the success of ‘My Left Foot,’ Fricker began appearing as a character actor in several high-profile films. In 1990, she starred in Sheridan’s follow-up to ‘My Left Foot,’ ‘The Field,’ as the wife of British farmer Bull McCabe.
Two years later, she would appear in ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,’ in her memorable role as the outwardly scary but deeply kind Pigeon Woman that Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) encounters in Central Park.
After the ’90s, Fricker primarily worked in Irish and British films. She received three Irish Film & Television Academy Award nominations for her performances in 2003’s ‘Veronica Guerin,’ opposite Cate Blanchett; 2004’s ‘Inside I’m Dancing’ with James McAvoy; and 2011’s ‘Albert Nobbs,’ which starred Glenn Close and Janet McTeer. Other prominent credits include 2007’s “Closing the Ring” and 2011’s “Cloudburst.”
After largely retiring from screen acting in 2015, Fricker returned in 2021 for an episode of the Canadian TV series ‘Cam Boy’ and also appeared in Graham Norton’s ITV series ‘Holding’ in 2022. The next year, she featured in the Channel 5 drama series “The Catch” and had a voice role in the film ‘The Miracle Club,’ reported Variety. (ANI)
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