Oscar winner Brenda Fricker passes away at 81:Actress was known for 'My Left Foot' and 'Home Alone 2'

Oscar-winning Irish actress Brenda Fricker, best known for her acclaimed performance in My Left Foot and her memorable role as the Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, has died at the age of 81. Her agent confirmed that she passed away peacefully in Dublin after a period of ill health. Fricker made history in 1990 by becoming the first Irish woman to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received the honour for portraying Bridget Fagan Brown, the determined mother of Christy Brown, in My Left Foot, opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, who also won an Oscar for the film. Over a career spanning six decades, Fricker appeared in more than 90 films and television productions. Apart from My Left Foot and Home Alone 2, she was known for her performances in Casualty, A Time to Kill, Angels in the Outfield, and Veronica Guerin. Behind her successful career, however, was a life marked by immense personal hardship. In her 2025 memoir, She Died Young: A Life in Fragments, Fricker revealed that she had survived sexual abuse, two rapes, a miscarriage, the loss of her womb, and years of mental health struggles. She said revisiting those painful memories while writing the book was emotionally difficult, as they were experiences she had long tried to leave behind. Tributes have poured in following her death. Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris described her as a "national treasure," while her agent Phil Belfield said, "We will never see her like again," remembering her as an extraordinary talent whose performances touched audiences across the world.