Brenda Fricker, the Irish actor who won an Academy Award for 1989’s “My Left Foot,” played the Pigeon Lady in “Home Alone 2” and appeared in “A Time to Kill” and “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” has died, her agent confirmed to CBS News on Friday. She was 81.
Fricker died Thursday night in Dublin after “a period of ill health,” her agent, Phil Belfield, said in a statement to CBS News.
“We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,” Belfield said. “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.”
Born in Dublin, Fricker performed onstage in London and was part of the original cast of what’s become known as the longest-running primetime medical drama in the world, the BBC’s “Casualty,” when it debuted in 1986.
Fricker won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in 1989’s “My Left Foot,” about the Irish writer Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy and only had control over his left foot. Fricker played Brown’s mother opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, who won the Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of Brown.
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Fricker’s victory in Hollywood marked the first time an Irish woman won an Oscar.
In reaction to her death, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Harris, hailed Fricker’s contributions to the country.
“She truly was among the greatest exports this country has ever produced and an ambassador for Irish talent on the world stage,” he said. “Quite simply, we will never see the like of her ever again.”
Fricker went on to perform in the 1992 sequel to “Home Alone” as the Pigeon Lady, a homeless woman in New York City’s Central Park who befriends Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin after he finds himself alone in the Big Apple without his family.
She appeared in movies throughout the 1990s, including 1993’s “So I Married an Axe Murderer” with Mike Myers, 1994’s “Angels in the Outfield” with Danny Glover, and 1996’s “A Time to Kill” with Matthew McConaughey. She also performed in 2003’s “Veronica Guerin” with Cate Blanchett. Her last film performance was in 2024’s “The Swallow.”
In her memoir “She Died Young: A Life in Fragments,” published last year, Fricker opened up about surviving sexual violence as a teenager and during her career. She told The Guardian newspaper it took her four years to write the autobiography.
“Every line I deleted and started again. It was murder for me,” she told The Guardian. “It was kind of ironic because I was talking about things I had paid a fortune to psychiatrists to make me forget. So it was very painful bringing them back. I thought they were a bit morbid. I think I’m a bit morbid. I’m Irish.”