Helen McCrory was hugely popular for her role in Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders and Harry Potter star Helen McCrory has died of cancer aged 52.
The star’s actor husband, Damian Lewis, revealed the news on Twitter.
He wrote: “I’m heartbroken to announce that after an heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from family and friends.
“She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and we 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.”
Helen is perhaps best known to TV fans for her role as Aunt Polly in the hit series Peaky Blinders, in which she starred alongside Cillian Murphy.
Talking about Aunt Polly, she once said: “She really is the brains with Tommy behind the family and you see the difference of how to rule. One from a male point of view, which is much more physical and violent and threatening, and one from a female point of view, which is just as physically violent and threatening, but is also psychological."
But Peaky Blinders is just one of a huge number of parts Helen enjoyed over the years. Last year she starred alongside Hugh Laurie in the BBC1 drama Roadkill, in which she played the Prime Minister.
Her long list of credits also include Doctor Who, Penny Dreadful, and Fearless.
Meanwhile, film fans know her best as Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. Helen once shared with us that people never recognised her for her part in Harry Potter.
She said: “I never, ever get recognised by Harry Potter fans. I look very different from my character – they age me, and I have the blonde hair. Even at the premiere – people don’t connect me with her.”
