Brenda Fricker, the Irish actor who won an Academy Award for My Left Foot and later became known to many movie fans as the Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2, has died, her agent confirmed to CBS News. She was 81.
Her agent, Phil Belfield, said Fricker died Thursday night in Dublin after “a period of ill health.” In a statement, he praised her as a one-of-a-kind performer whose absence will be deeply felt by fans around the world.
Born in Dublin, Fricker built a long career on stage and screen. She was part of the original cast of the BBC medical drama Casualty when it premiered in 1986.
Fricker won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in the 1989 film My Left Foot, in which she played the mother of writer Christy Brown. Her win was also notable because she became the first Irish woman to receive an Oscar.
She later appeared in films including So I Married an Axe Murderer, Angels in the Outfield, A Time to Kill and Veronica Guerin. Her final film role was in 2024’s The Swallow.
