Oscar-Winning Irish Actress Brenda Fricker Dies at 81

Brenda Fricker, the first female Irish actor to win an Academy Award, has died at 81, her agent Phil Belfield confirmed to the BBC. She won Best Supporting Actress for My Left Foot (1989), playing Christy Brown's mother. Born in Dublin in 1945, she also charmed global audiences as the "pigeon lady" in Home Alone 2. Ireland's Tánaiste Simon Harris called her "a national treasure."