Academy Award-winning actress Brenda Fricker, best known for her roles in “My Left Foot” and “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York,” has died at the age of 81.
News of her death was confirmed by her agent Phil Belfield, who said the Irish actress passed away on July 16 in Dublin following a period of ill health.
“We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,’’ Belfield said in a statement. “I was honored 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.”
Fricker made history at the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990 when she became the first Irish actress to win an Oscar, receiving the award for Best Supporting Actress in the drama “My Left Foot.”
She portrayed Bridget Fagan Brown in the film, the devoted mother of writer and artist Christy Brown, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The role also earned Day-Lewis the Best Actor award.
The movie is based on Christy Brown’s autobiography, after he was born with cerebral palsy and only had control of his left foot.
“She truly was among the greatest exports this country has ever produced and an ambassador for Irish talent on the world stage,’' remembered Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Harris. “Quite simply, we will never see the like of her ever again.”
With a career spanning six decades, Fricker appeared in more than 90 film and television productions including “A Time to Kill,” “Angels in the Outfield,” “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” and the long-running BBC medical drama “Casualty,” among others.
Outside of Ireland, she was widely recognized as the “Pigeon Lady” in the 1992 holiday classic “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”
Born in Dublin in 1945, Fricker worked in journalism before transitioning to acting. She developed her craft through leading theatrical organizations such as the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
She was married to film director Barry Davis from 1979 until their divorce in 1988. Davis died two years later, in 1990.
Fricker went on to make her final on-screen appearance in the 2024 Irish drama “The Swallow,” directed by Tadhg O'Sullivan, before her death.
Information regarding immediate surviving family members was not publicly disclosed.
