Helen McCrory, the English actor who played Narcissa Malfoy in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise and Polly Gray in ‘Peaky Blinders’, has died, her husband Damian Lewis announced on Friday. She was 52.
‘I am saddened to announce that the beautiful and powerful woman, Helen McCrory, has died peacefully at home after a heroic battle with cancer, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family. She died while she was alive. Fearless. God we love her and know how happy we are to have her in our lives. His flame so bright. Now, Kleintjie, go into the air, and thank you, ”Lewis wrote on Twitter on Friday.
– Damian Lewis (@lewis_damian) 16 April 2021
The English star also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s James Bond film “Skyfall”, “Hugo” and played Cherie Booth, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in “The Queen” and “The Special Relationship.”
In addition to her film and TV roles, McCrory began her career on stage and appeared in more than 25 productions in the 1990s to the mid-2010s. Her stage credits included ‘Macbeth’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘As You Like It’, ‘Medea’ and many more.
She joined the “Harry Potter” family in “The Half-Blood Prince,” in which Narcissa Malfoy, the mother of Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), was played. She repeated the role in the two-part finale of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’.
In “Peaky Blinders”, she starred in all five seasons of the British drama Polly Gray, aunt of Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), and the treasurer of the Peaky Blinders crime family. She also appears in ‘Penny Dreadful’ and casts her voice as a demon in ‘His Dark Materials’.
During her theater, television and film career, McCrory has won several awards, including Best Actress at the London Film Critics Circle, the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, the Critics’ Circle Theater Awards and Theater Actress of the Year at the Glamor Awards. She was nominated for a Critics Choice Television Award and a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for ‘Penny Dreadful’. For her role in “Macbeth” in 1995, she was named the most promising newcomer at the Shakespeare Globe Awards.