Thursday, January 16, 2025, 11:51AM |  19°
MENU
Advertisement
Actor Helen McCrory poses for photographers at a special screening of "Their Finest" at the BFI in central London on April 12, 2017. Ms. McCrory, who starred in the television show “Peaky Blinders” and the “Harry Potter” movies, died Friday at age 52.
1
MORE

‘Peaky Blinders’ actor Helen McCrory dies of cancer at 52

Joel Ryan/Invision/AP

‘Peaky Blinders’ actor Helen McCrory dies of cancer at 52

British actor Helen McCrory, who starred in the television show “Peaky Blinders” and the “Harry Potter” movies, has died, her husband said Friday. She was 52 and had been suffering from cancer.

Her husband, fellow actor Damian Lewis, said Ms. McCrory died “peacefully at home” after a “heroic battle with cancer.”

“She died as she lived. Fearlessly,” Mr. Lewis wrote on Twitter. “God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives. She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air, and thank you.”

Advertisement

Mr. McCrory was one of Britain’s most respected actors, making her mark by playing a succession of formidable and sometimes fearsome women.

She played the matriarch of a crime family on ”Peaky Blinders” and the scheming Voldemort ally Narcissa Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” movies.

Cillian Murphy, who plays the central role of gangland boss Tommy Shelby in “Peaky Blinders,” set in the early 20th-century English underworld, said he was “broken-hearted to lose such a dear friend.”

“Helen was a beautiful, caring, funny, compassionate human being,” he said in a statement. “She was also a gifted actor — fearless and magnificent.

Advertisement

“She elevated and made humane every scene, every character she played,” Mr. Murphy said. “It was a privilege to have worked with this brilliant woman, to have shared so many laughs over the years. I will dearly miss my pal. My love and thoughts are with Damian and her family.”

Ms. McCrory also starred as a human rights lawyer dragged into international intrigue in the TV thriller “Fearless,” played lawyer Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the 2006 movie “The Queen,” and had roles in Martin Scorsese’s film “Hugo” and the James Bond thriller “Skyfall.”

Actor Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair in “The Queen,” said Ms. McCrory was “so funny, so passionate, so smart and one of the greatest actors of our time.”

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling tweeted that she was “devastated to learn of the death of Helen McCrory, an extraordinary actress and a wonderful woman who’s left us far too soon.”

Onstage, Ms. McCrory’s roles included the vengeful Greek heroine “Medea” at the National Theatre in 2014. At the same theater, she excelled as a woman caught between a dull husband and a feckless lover in Terence Rattigan’s “The Deep Blue Sea” in 2016.

While many performers struggle to find meaty female roles in film and television, Ms. McCrory played a string of them.

“Having said that, there are a lot of things I turn down,” she told The Associated Press in 2016, describing the sort of roles where “all your lines are ‘But what did you do at work?’ ’That’s so clever, darling.′ ‘How did you do that?’ ‘And then what did you do?’”

“Of course, there’s so much sexism within the profession,” Ms. McCrory said. “But I think you approach it in different ways, and my approach is just to forge forward.”

Others remembered Ms. McCrory for her charity work, including on FeedNHS, a campaign to provide meals for front-line health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Helen McCrory will be remembered not just for her remarkable stage and screen performances, but also for her selflessness and generosity,” comedian Matt Lucas tweeted. “She and Damian were the motor driving FeedNHS, working tirelessly during the pandemic to raise millions for others. What a tremendous loss.”

Ms. McCrory and Mr. Lewis, star of the TV series “Homeland” and “Billions,” married in 2007 and had two children.

First Published: April 16, 2021, 7:47 p.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (1)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Ice on the Allegheny River Downtown on Tuesday, Jan.14, 2025.
1
news
Pittsburgh under winter weather advisory for up to 3 inches of snow as Arctic blast looms
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025.
2
sports
Steelers officially in the market, but QB names don't exactly jump off the page
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin looks on before a game against the Cowboys at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
3
sports
Brian Batko’s Steelers mailbag: With Mike Tomlin staying, what should the front office do now?
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II walks on the field at Acrisure Stadium before an NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023.
4
sports
Joe Starkey: Steelers president Art Rooney II needs to step in and order a George Pickens trade
A deal to reopen bankrupt Sharon Regional Medical Center in Mercer County unraveled Wednesday after a local nonprofit refused to waive a $25 million claim against the owners of the hospital buildings and other real estate.
5
business
Sale of Sharon Regional Medical Center collapses
Actor Helen McCrory poses for photographers at a special screening of "Their Finest" at the BFI in central London on April 12, 2017. Ms. McCrory, who starred in the television show “Peaky Blinders” and the “Harry Potter” movies, died Friday at age 52.  (Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
Advertisement
LATEST news
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story