Published on •Updated
Celebrated actress Brenda Fricker – the first Irish woman to win an Oscar – has died aged 81.
She won Best Supporting Actress in 1990 for playing the mother of Irish writer and painter Christy Brown in the biographical drama My Left Foot – for which Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor.
Over the course of a career spanning six decades, Fricker also starred in films like So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993), A Time To Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Albert Nobbs (2011), and is fondly remembered by many as the Central Park “pigeon lady” who befriends Macaulay Culkin’s character Kevin in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992).
Phil Belfield, her agent, said she had died after a period of ill health.
In a statement, he said: “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.”
The US ambassador to Ireland, Edward Walsh, paid tribute to Fricker, describing her as “a giant of Irish film” and praising her “unforgettable” performance in My Left Foot. He wrote on X: “From Dublin to Hollywood, her work brought Ireland’s stories to the world and inspired generations on both sides of the Atlantic. She leaves a remarkable legacy, and I extend my deepest condolences to her family, friends, and all who loved her.”
Born in Dublin on 17 February 1945, Fricker began her acting career in TV roles and was well known to UK TV audiences through her long-running role as nurse Megan Roach on Casualty in the 1980s and 90s – a role she reprised in 2007 and 2010.
RIP Brenda Fricker 1945 – 2026