Brenda Fricker, the acclaimed Irish actor celebrated for her Oscar-winning performance in the 1989 film My Left Foot, as well as memorable roles in Home Alone 2 and the TV drama Casualty, has died aged 81.
Born in Dublin in 1945, Fricker became one of Ireland’s best-known screen performers, earning widespread praise for her work in film, television and theatre across a career spanning more than six decades. She won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as Christy Brown’s mother in My Left Foot, and later became familiar to international audiences as the “Pigeon Lady” in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Her other credits included The Field, So I Married an Axe Murderer and appearances in long-running British television dramas.