She won for her role in 1989 film My Left Foot and had well-loved parts in Home Alone 2 and TV's Casualty.

Irish actress Brenda Fricker, who won an Oscar for her role in 1989 film My Left Foot and had well-loved parts in Home Alone 2 and TV's Casualty, has died at the age of 81. Fricker won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 1990 for playing Daniel Day-Lewis's on-screen mother in My Left Foot. She played nurse Megan Roach in the BBC's Casualty from 1986, making her final appearance in 2010; and was the Central Park pigeon lady in 1992's Home Alone sequel. In a statement, her agent Phil Belfield said: "We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her." He added: "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's former Casualty co-star Derek Thompson, who played long-running character Charlie Fairhead, paid tribute to the actress, telling BBC News: "Truly the best I have ever worked with, and I've worked with a lot of actors". Cathy Shipton, who played Lisa 'Duffy' Duffin, added that Fricker as "one of the most authentic people I've ever met". "She lived her life courageously warts and all. I loved her for her wit, her intelligence and her brilliant sense of humour," Shipton told BBC News.