Summary:
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Irish actress Brenda Fricker, known for roles in My Left Foot and Home Alone 2, has passed away at 81.
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She was the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award and had a career spanning six decades.
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Tributes have poured in for the legendary actress, whose work touched the lives of many.
Irish actress Brenda Fricker, whose career spanned six decades and touched generations of moviegoers, has died at the age of 81.
Her agent, Phil Belfield, confirmed she passed away peacefully Thursday night in Dublin following a period of ill health.
Fricker made history in 1990 as the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award, earning Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Bridget Brown — the fiercely devoted mother of writer and painter Christy Brown — in Jim Sheridan’s My Left Foot, opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.
But for millions who grew up in the ’90s, she’ll forever be the Pigeon Lady of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York — the mysterious woman in Central Park who became one of the most quietly moving characters in a holiday classic. It’s a role that resurfaces every December, introducing her warmth to new audiences year after year.
Born and raised in Dublin, Fricker began her career on stage and in Ireland’s earliest television dramas before building a filmography of more than 30 film and TV productions, including A Time to Kill, Veronica Guerin, and her final film, The Swallow, in 2024.
Tributes have poured in from across the film world and beyond. Belfield remembered her simply as a legend, saying “the world is lesser for the lack of her.”
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Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and the countless fans whose lives her work touched.
