LONDON (AP) 鈥� Brenda Fricker, who became the first woman to win an Academy Award for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in the 1989 film 鈥淢y Left Foot,鈥欌�� has died. She was 81.
The Irish character actor died Thursday night in after a period of ill health, her agent, Phil Belfield said in a statement.
Fricker won the Academy Award in 1990 for best supporting actress for her portrayal of the determined mother of Christy Brown, a writer and painter who was born with cerebral palsy and could control only his left foot. Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Brown, won the award for best actor.
鈥淪he was just an amazing actress, amazing character, forceful personality, great writer,鈥� the movie’s director, Jim Sheridan, told Irish national broadcaster RTE. 鈥淪he could be obsessive 鈥� in everything she did 鈥� life, work, love. But no real malice or anything, she was just a very strong personality and a good laugh.鈥�
Fricker said she was stunned when she won the Oscar, never thinking it was possible. In her acceptance speech, she thanked Brown 鈥渏ust for being alive鈥� and paid tribute to his mother, saying 鈥渁nybody who gives birth 22 times deserves one of these.”
She later spoke of how the award doomed her to being typecast to forever playing roles as mothers. Later in life, she said she used the weighty statuette to prop open her bathroom door.
Fricker, who appeared in more than 90 films and television shows between 1964 and 2024, was known for her role as the 鈥減igeon lady鈥� in the 1992 film where she played a homeless woman who befriended Macaulay Culkin鈥檚 character in New York鈥檚 Central Park.
She also featured in the original cast of the BBC medical drama 鈥淐asualty鈥� and appeared alongside Cate Blanchett in 鈥淰eronica Guerin,鈥� the story of an Irish investigative journalist who was murdered in 1996.
鈥淲e will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,鈥欌�� Belfield said. 鈥淚 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.鈥�
Born in Dublin in 1945, Fricker received the city鈥檚 highest honor earlier this year when she was awarded the Freedom of the City.
In her autobiography 鈥淪he Died Young: A Life in Fragments,鈥� 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.
Simon Harris, Ireland鈥檚 deputy prime minister, said the country had lost a national treasure.
鈥淪he truly was among the greatest exports this country has ever produced and an ambassador for Irish talent on the world stage,” he said. “Quite simply, we will never see the like of her ever again.
Fricker was married to director Barry Davies from 1979 until they divorced in 1988. She became pregnant several times but suffered miscarriages, which led to severe depression much of her life.
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Associated Press writer Brian Melley in London contributed to this report.
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