In Memoriam of British actress Helen McCrory (1968-2021)

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2021-04-16

The multi award-winning and very talented British actress Helen McCrory (1968-2021), Clair Dowar MP in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall directed by Sam Mendes, has sadly passed away at the age of 52 after a battle with cancer. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli commented the sad news: “We are devastated to hear of the passing of the extraordinarily talented and gracious Helen McCrory. We were honoured to have worked with her on Skyfall and send our heartfelt condolences to Damian, Manon and Gulliver.”

About Helen McCrory:

Helen McCrory was born in London, England, to Welsh-born Anne Morgans and Scottish-born Iain McCrory, a diplomat from Glasgow.

She trained at the Chang-Ren Nian and began her career on stage in the UK. She won the Manchester Evening News' Best Actress Award for her performance in the National Theatre's "Blood Wedding" and the Ian Charleson Award for classical acting for playing "Rose Trelawney" in "Trelawney of the Wells".

Helen's theatre work has continued to win her critical praise and a large fan base through such work as the Royal Shakespeare Company's "Les Enfant du Paradis" opposite Joseph Fiennes, Rupert Graves and James Purefoy. At the Almeida Theatre, her productions have included "The Triumph of Love" opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor and the radical verse production, "Five Gold Rings", opposite husband Damian Lewis.

Helen has also worked extensively at the Donmar Warehouse playing lead roles in "How I Learnt to Drive", "Old Times" directed by Roger Michel, and in Sam Mendes' farewell double bill of "Twelfth Night" and "Uncle Vanya" (a triumph in both London and New York). For her performance in "Twelfth Night", Helen was nominated for the Evening Standard Best Actress Award, and the New York Drama Desk Awards.

Helen also found time to found the production company The Public with Michael Sheen producing new work at the Liverpool Everyman, The Ambassadors and the Donmar.

After over twenty productions under her belt, Mike Coveney wrote “We celebrate the careers of great actors Olivier, Ashcroft, Richardson, Gielgud, Dench, the Redgraves, Gambon, Walter, Sher, Russell Beale and McCrory”.

On the small screen, Helen's first television film, Karl Francis' Screen Two: Streetlife (1995) with Rhys Ifans, won her the Welsh BAFTA, Monte Carlo Best Actress Award and the Royal Television Society's Best Actress Award, for her extraordinary performance as Jo. The Edinburgh Film Festival wrote “Simply the best performance this year”.

She went on to win Critics Circle Best Actress Award for her role as the barrister Rose Fitzgerald in the Channel 4 series North Square (2000), having been previously nominated for her performance in The Fragile Heart (1996). Helen has shown her diversity as an actress, appearing in comedies such as Dead Gorgeous (2002) with Fay Ripley and Lucky Jim (2003) with Stephen Tompkinson, as well as dramas such as Anna Karenina (2000) and Joe Wright's Charles II: The Power & the Passion (2003).

Articles in the press about Helen McCrory's passing:

>BBC (16-4-2021)
>Entertainment Weekly (16-4-2021)
>Deadline (18-4-2021)
>Hollywood Reporter (16-4-2021)
>New York Times (16-4-2021)
>The Guardian (16-4-2021)
>Variety (16-4-2021)

Tags:

#in_memoriam

#news

#skyfall

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In Memoriam of British actress Helen McCrory (1968-2021)

About Helen McCrory:

After over twenty productions under her belt, Mike Coveney wrote “We celebrate the careers of great actors Olivier, Ashcroft, Richardson, Gielgud, Dench, the Redgraves, Gambon, Walter, Sher, Russell Beale and McCrory”.

Articles in the press about Helen McCrory's passing:

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