Brenda Fricker, Oscar-winning Irish actress and ‘Home Alone’ Pigeon Lady, dies at 81
By Lianne Kolirin, CNN
(CNN) — Brenda Fricker, the Oscar-winning Irish actress, has died at age 81, her agent confirmed Friday.
Fricker was the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award, which she scooped in 1990 for best supporting actress for her role in “My Left Foot.” In the biopic, directed by Jim Sheridan, she played Mrs Brown, the mother of the movie’s central character, Christy Brown, a man with cerebral palsy. Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Brown, also earned an Oscar for his portrayal.
The actress’ death on Thursday was announced by her agent, Phil Belfield. In a statement sent to CNN, he said: “It is with much sadness that I share the news that beloved actress Brenda Fricker passed away peacefully last night in Dublin, after a period of ill health, at the age of 81.”
Describing her as a “legend,” Belfield added: “We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her. 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’s acting career included more than 30 roles in movies and TV, including her famous outing as the homeless “pigeon lady” who befriended Macauley Culkin in “Home Alone 2.”
Born and bred in Dublin, Fricker last year published a memoir entitled “She Died Young: A Life in Fragments.” According to the book’s publisher, Bloomsbury, it covered her early years in Ireland, but also the “difficulty of surviving sexual violence and living with mental illness.”
Last year, an ailing Fricker gave an interview to the Guardian from her bed at home in Dublin, during which she said: “I’m having a dreadful death … I’m just dying, every day in pain.”
She told the interviewer that writing the book had been “murder for me” as she discussed a difficult upbringing, which featured sexual abuse at the hands of an elocution teacher, and surviving two rapes.
“It was kind of ironic because I was talking about things I had paid a fortune to psychiatrists to make me forget,” she told the Guardian. “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.”
Among her many movie roles, she played opposite Olympia Dukakis in the 2011 film “Cloudburst” and with Cate Blanchett in “Veronica Guerin” in 2003. Her last role was in “The Swallow” in 2024, which her agent said showed “the truth and majesty of Brenda as an actor and is a thing of beauty.”
In an interview with British newspaper The Times in 2024, Fricker played down her Oscar achievement. “I didn’t learn that much on My Left Foot,” she said. “I learnt a lot while at the BBC when we were doing plays. The standard of the stuff then was so much better.”
She told the interviewer that after spending six years on the BBC medical drama “Casualty,” she was offered work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, “which is exactly where I wanted to go.” But she was then cast in the Oscar-winning role that went on to define her career.
“You get passed over like that and typecast,” she said. “So there’s a lot that’s not great about an Oscar. And you don’t get any money. They could give you a few bob with it, at least.”
Upon hearing the news of Fricker’s death, Edward Walsh, the US ambassador to Ireland, tweeted: “Sad to hear of the passing of Brenda Fricker, a giant of Irish film and the first Irish actress ever to win an Academy Award for her unforgettable performance in My Left Foot. 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.”
The-CNN-Wire
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