Oscar-winning actress and Home Alone star Brenda Fricker dies aged 81

Oscar-winning Irish actress Brenda Fricker has died aged 81, her agent said today. She was best known for her roles in My Left Foot, for which she won an Oscar, and Home Alone 2: Lost In New York.

Phil Belfield said in a statement to the Press Association: “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.”

She appeared in the BBC’s Casualty as Megan Roach until 1990 and was in films including So I Married an Axe Murderer, Angels in the Outfield, A Time to Kill, Veronica Guerin and the Second World War epic Closing The Ring, which was directed by Sir Richard Attenborough.

In 1990, Fricker became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, taking the Best Supporting Actress award for playing Daniel Day-Lewis’ character Christy Brown’s mum Bridget in the 1989 film My Left Foot. Day-Lewis also won, for Best Actor.

In her acceptance speech, Brenda thanked Brown "for being alive" and also dedicated her Oscar to Brown’s real-life mother, saying "Anybody who gives birth 22 times deserves one of these, I think."

Fricker also played Central Park’s ’Pigeon Lady’ in the 1992 sequel to Home Alone. The character, who is homeless, is initially feared by Macaulay Culkin’s missing ten-year-old Kevin McCallister but becomes a close friend and ultimately saves him.

The Pigeon Lady has been long remembered by fans of the Home Alone series. In a moving scene she explains how she withdrew from society and found comfort with the birds in the park. Kevin helps her learn to trust people again giving her porcelain turtledove on Christmas morning.

Despite a long and feted career, Fricker said in a 2024 interview with The Times she said she felt she had become invisible, saying: "They don’t write for old women. Shakespeare wrote for old women, but none of the young writers do. None.

"There are so many wonderful people around… interesting women with history and stories. Remember these words when you turn 70: you become invisible. Richard Harris said that to me while sitting on the rocks looking out over the Atlantic Ocean and it stuck in my head.

"On my 70th birthday I thought: ’He’s wrong, I feel great.’ A week later I knew exactly what he meant. It’s weird." She added: "So it’s not that I’m out of work for any other reason there are no parts to do."

Fricker was born in Dublin and initially hoped to be a reporter like her dad Desmond, who worked for Irish broadcaster RTE and as a journalist at the Irish Times. She was assistant to the art editor at the same paper and said she became an actress "by chance" when she got a small and uncredited part in a 1964 film called Of Human Bondage.

She also appeared in Tolka Row, Ireland’s first soap opera, which led to a 1977 part as nurse Maloney in ITV’s Coronation Street, where she was at the birth of Tracy Barlow.

Another nursing role followed, playing Megan Roach in the BBC’s Casualty. Fricker left in December 1990 saying "all she ever seemed to do was push a trolley around and offer tea and sympathy".

She returned 20 years later. With Megan having been diagnosed with cancer, she turns to her old friend and colleague Charlie Fairhead to help her end her life, which he did.

Fricker was married to Barry Davis for 15 years until they divorced in 1988 and listed her interests as Guinness, poetry and playing snooker. She once took on the whole crew of My Left Foot saying: "I played pool against 17 of them, and beat them all."