Brenda Fricker, the Oscar-winning Irish actress best known to American audiences for her role as the Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, has died at the age of 81.
Fricker’s agent Phil Belfield confirmed to the BBC that the actress died Friday
“after a period of ill health”; no cause of death was provided. “We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,” Belfield said in a statement. “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.”
A renowned character actress with a long history of BBC roles, Fricker became the first Irish actress to earn an Academy Award in 1990 when she won Best Supporting Actress for My Left Foot; in that Jim Sheridan-directed biographical film, Fricker played the mother of Irish writer and artist Christy Brown, portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in an Best Actor Oscar-winning role.
Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy, was one of 22 children that Bridget Brown (played by Fricker) gave birth to, nine of whom died in infancy. “Anybody who gives birth 22 times deserves one of these,” Fricker famously quipped in her Oscar acceptance speech.
After decades of U.K. roles, Fricker’s Oscar-winning success allowed for her to break into Hollywood, and she was cast soon after in one of the most anticipated sequels of the time: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, where she portrayed a kind-hearted homeless woman dubbed “The Pigeon Lady” who ultimately rescued Kevin McCallister from the now-Sticky Bandits.
Other Hollywood roles include Mike Myers’ mother in So I Married an Axe Murderer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s foster mother in the baseball movie Angels in the Outfield, and Matthew McConaughey’s secretary in A Time to Kill.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Fricker was also known for her decades-long run on the BBC medical drama Casualty, appearing on the series from 1986 to 1990 as well as appearances in the 2000s.
Ireland’s deputy prime minister Simon Harris called Fricker a “national treasure” in a statement to the BBC. “She was a consummate performer who graced our screens and stages with remarkable talent and authenticity. Brenda brought depth and humanity to every role she undertook,” Harris said Friday. “She truly was among the greatest exports this country has ever produced and an ambassador for Irish talent on the world stage. Quite simply, we will never see the like of her ever again.”
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