July 18, 2026 — 4:51pm
Brenda Fricker, who became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award, for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in the 1989 film My Left Foot, has died. She was 81.
The Irish character actor died in Dublin after a period of ill health, her agent, Phil Belfield, said in a statement.
Fricker won the Academy Award in 1990 for best supporting actress for her portrayal of the determined mother of Christy Brown, a writer and painter born with cerebral palsy and who could control only his left foot. Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Brown, won the award for best actor.
“She was just an amazing actress, amazing character, forceful personality, great writer,” the movie’s director, Jim Sheridan, told Irish national broadcaster RTE. “She could be obsessive – in everything she did – life, work, love. But no real malice or anything, she was just a very strong personality and a good laugh.”
