Brenda Fricker, the first Irish actress to win an Oscar for playing the determined mother of disabled artist Christy Brown in the 1989 film My Left Foot, has died at the age of 81 after a period of ill health, her agent said on Friday.
Fricker, described as among the most respected Irish actors of her generation by the Irish Times, won the best supporting actress prize for the Irish-made drama that also landed Daniel Day-Lewis the first of his record three best actor Oscars.
Fricker also starred in another renowned Irish film of that era, The Field, and went on to play supporting roles in 1990s US films including So I Married an Axe Murderer, A Time to Kill and Home Alone 2, where she played the kindly “Pigeon Lady” opposite Macaulay Culkin.
“She was an amazing actress, amazing character, a forceful personality,” My Left Foot director Jim Sheridan told a popular lunchtime phone-in show on national broadcaster RTE that was dedicated to Fricker’s career.
“She was vibrant and full of life and had her own opinions. She took no prisoners, let’s put it that way.”
