BRENDA FRICKER HAS died at the age of 81. 

Her agent Phil Belfield confirmed the news, saying, “It is with much sadness that I share the news that beloved actress Brenda Fricker passed away peacefully last night after a period of ill health, at the age of 81.

“We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her. I was honoured 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.”

Fricker was one of Ireland’s most respected and well known actors, and was the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award.

She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1990 for her role in My Left Foot, starring opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.

Beyond her screen work, which also includes beloved roles in Home Alone 2, The Field, Veronica Guerin, Angels in the Outfield and A Time to Kill, Fricker spoke publicly and candidly about depression and isolation.

In February, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin, which Belfield said she “was particularly thrilled and proud of”.

Last year, the Dublin-born actor published a memoir, She Died Young: A Life in Fragments, in which she reflected on her childhood, her struggles with mental health, and the way acting became both a refuge and a means of survival.

Fricker was ill during her time writing the book, and in an interview with Brendan O’Connor at her home last year said she had written the majority of the book on her phone in bed.

“One finger banging on the phone under the duvet at night,” she said, adding that the predictive text drove her “mad”.

Fricker previously said that work gave her a sense of safety and purpose, from her early days on the Abbey Theatre stage to an international career that took her from Tolka Row to Hollywood.