{"id":4937,"date":"2026-07-20T06:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4937"},"modified":"2026-07-20T06:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:06:14","slug":"she-won-an-oscar-but-was-famous-as-pigeon-lady-irish-actor-brenda-fricker-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4937","title":{"rendered":"She won an Oscar but was famous as ‘Pigeon Lady’: Irish actor Brenda Fricker dies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONDON (AP) \u2014 Brenda Fricker, who won an Academy Award for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in the 1989 film \u201cMy Left Foot,\u2019\u2019 has died. She was 81.<\/p>\n

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The Irish character actor died Thursday night in Dublin after a period of ill health, her agent, Phil Belfield said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Fricker became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award, taking the supporting-actress prize in 1990 for her portrayal of the determined mother of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy and could control only his left foot. Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Christy Brown, won the award for best actor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,\u2019\u2019 Belfield said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fricker, who appeared in more than 90 films and television shows between 1964 and 2024, was known for her role as the \u201cpigeon lady\u201d in the 1992 film \u201cHome Alone 2: Lost in New York,\u201d playing a homeless woman who befriended Macaulay Culkin\u2019s character in New York\u2019s Central Park.<\/p>\n

She also featured in the original cast of the BBC medical drama \u201cCasualty\u201d and appeared alongside Cate Blanchett in \u201cVeronica Guerin,\u201d the story of an Irish investigative journalist who was murdered in 1996.<\/p>\n

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Born in Dublin in 1945, Fricker received the city\u2019s highest honor earlier this year when she was awarded the Freedom of the City.<\/p>\n

In her autobiography, \u201cShe Died Young: A Life in Fragments,\u201d Fricker describes both happy childhood escapades with her sister Grania and her struggles to overcome sexual violence and mental health issues, which caused her to be institutionalized several times. Published in September 2025, the book appeared on the Irish Sunday Times bestseller list.<\/p>\n

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Simon Harris, Ireland\u2019s deputy prime minister, said the country had lost a national treasure.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe truly was among the greatest exports this country has ever produced and an ambassador for Irish talent on the world stage,\u201d he said. \u201cQuite simply, we will never see the like of her ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fricker became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award, taking the supporting-actress prize in 1990.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nShe won an Oscar but was famous as ‘Pigeon Lady’: Irish actor Brenda Fricker dies - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4937\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"She won an Oscar but was famous as ‘Pigeon Lady’: Irish actor Brenda Fricker dies - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fricker became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award, taking the supporting-actress prize in 1990.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4937\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T06:06:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=4937#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=4937\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"She won an Oscar but was famous as ‘Pigeon Lady’: Irish actor Brenda Fricker dies\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T06:06:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=4937\"},\"wordCount\":410,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=4937#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/4c4d60f6c40c7b962ab2283689383d00.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=4937#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=4937\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=4937\",\"name\":\"She won an Oscar but was famous as ‘Pigeon Lady’: Irish actor Brenda Fricker dies - 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