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Helen McCrory is DEAD TO ME!

Aged 52. Played Cherie Blair in The Queen and Narcissus Malfoy in Harry Potter. Wife of Damian Lewis.

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by Anonymousreply 66June 11, 2021 10:11 AM

Oh how sad. Such a wonderful stage and screen artist. Way too young. RIP dear Lady

by Anonymousreply 1April 16, 2021 5:59 PM

Apologies. I've just noticed a DEAD TO ME for this actor but it was under her Harry Potter persona, so didn't appear when I created this thread.

by Anonymousreply 2April 16, 2021 6:35 PM

For those interested, a story about her meeting Lauren Bacall on Broadway from her Desert Island Discs program.

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by Anonymousreply 3April 16, 2021 6:45 PM

First Paul Ritter and now this, I really liked her. RIP Helen.

by Anonymousreply 4April 16, 2021 8:46 PM

I saw her at the National Theatre in Rattigan's T'he Deep Blue Sea'. She was spell-binding. One of the few actresses that could keep an audience of 1,200 enthralled as she simply boiled an egg with her back to the audience.

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by Anonymousreply 5April 16, 2021 8:51 PM

So sad....I’ve liked her in everything I’ve seen her in.

by Anonymousreply 6April 16, 2021 8:58 PM

Very sad. I loved her!

by Anonymousreply 7April 16, 2021 9:30 PM

Helen also played the crazy witch in 'Penny Dreadful'.

What type of cancer did she have?

by Anonymousreply 8April 16, 2021 9:38 PM

Does Damian Lewis need consoling? I'm available

by Anonymousreply 9April 17, 2021 12:26 AM

OP- Damian Lewis is a CONNOIJSSEUR of COCK.

by Anonymousreply 10April 17, 2021 12:50 AM

Her Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders was brilliant.

by Anonymousreply 11April 17, 2021 1:23 AM

I had friends that worked with her and said she was lovely. Feel sad for her kids.

by Anonymousreply 12April 17, 2021 1:48 AM

What fucking British actor DIDN'T have a part in a Harry Potter movie?

by Anonymousreply 13April 17, 2021 1:50 AM

R13- British actors/actresses lined up to appear in that Harry Potter DRIVEL.

by Anonymousreply 14April 17, 2021 2:39 AM

You'd thought they'd have run out.

by Anonymousreply 15April 17, 2021 5:06 AM

Can’t believe it took until R11 for someone to mention Aunt Polly. You are a fookin’ disappointment OP.

This was so sudden. An aggressive cancer, I’m told? (not sure what sort). Far too young for a vigourous working woman to die, and for an artist with much more to give.

At least our Gypsy Queen Poll will be reunited with her love Aberama, now. “I have dealt death: now death has dealt with me.”

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by Anonymousreply 16April 17, 2021 11:36 PM

Aw, loved her

by Anonymousreply 17April 17, 2021 11:37 PM

Wonder how they’ll explain Poll’s absence in the final season of Peaky’s, then?

They’d better not have her get gunned down by a random assassin in a filler episode. She was the lynchpin character of the entire story, and the breakout star of the show. She’s the type of character who needs to have a strong ending that shows how powerful and self-possessed she was, that she didn’t go down without a fight.

by Anonymousreply 18April 17, 2021 11:46 PM

[quote] t22felton—So sad to say farewell so suddenly - I never took the chance to tell her , but she helped shape me as a person so much - on & off screen - She was always relentlessly herself- razor sharp wit - silver tongued - kind & warm hearted - she suffered no fools yet had time for everyone - thank you for lighting the way forward & holding my hand when I needed it xx

Poor Tom Felton, it’s never easy to lose a (screen) parent.

Hopefully he can find consolation from Daddy Jason.

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by Anonymousreply 19April 18, 2021 9:46 AM

Helen sounds an incredible woman, as well as a first-class actress. She swore those close to her to secrecy about the cancer, and told very few, so that she could commit fully to her professional and charitable engagements up until the end,

There’s a good chance the likes of Tom, Jason, the secondary actors on PEAKY BLINDERS and her other final projects never even knew she was ill.

My heart goes out to her grieving children and her husband.

by Anonymousreply 20April 18, 2021 10:04 AM

She seemed to have worked hard to prepare her husband and children for life after her death. She said she wanted "Daddy to have lots of girlfriends" but to hold off snogging anyone at the funeral service.

by Anonymousreply 21April 18, 2021 1:19 PM

Her take on Cherie Blair was the only good thing about the otherwise dreadful The Queen. That scene where she and Michael Sheen moved away from the queen backwards (because they were told you can't turn your back on her) was a hoot!

by Anonymousreply 22April 18, 2021 1:26 PM

She managed to pull this outfit off. Not so Poor Damian.

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by Anonymousreply 23April 18, 2021 2:55 PM

R23 she was quite old-school punk rock in spirit, makes sense she’d look great in that.

It’s so weird talking about her in the past tense. She doesn’t seem like someone who ought to be dead, if that makes sense.

by Anonymousreply 24April 18, 2021 3:46 PM

Vivacious lady to the last.

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by Anonymousreply 25April 19, 2021 8:26 AM

Wonder if Miss Cillian knew? Surely, she had to.

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by Anonymousreply 26April 19, 2021 12:13 PM

She was no Helen Flanagan.

by Anonymousreply 27April 19, 2021 12:32 PM

[quote] she was quite old-school punk rock in spirit,

What does that even mean?

Anyway, don’t smoke, kids. A 52 year old mother and friend does not need to be dead

by Anonymousreply 28April 19, 2021 12:36 PM

I always liked her but also found her looking much older than her age.

by Anonymousreply 29April 19, 2021 12:41 PM

[quote]Helen also played the crazy witch in 'Penny Dreadful'.

Yes, she was scary on 'Penny Dreadful'. I wish her character had been kept on for another season.

by Anonymousreply 30April 19, 2021 12:56 PM

R28 We don’t know what type of cancer she had. It might not have had anything to do with smoking. 🙄

by Anonymousreply 31April 19, 2021 12:58 PM

She was also in 'MotherFatherSon' (2019) with Richard Gere.

by Anonymousreply 32April 19, 2021 1:11 PM

[Quote] We don’t know what type of cancer she had. It might not have had anything to do with smoking. 🙄

While that's true... she made a point of noting what you like is often bad for you when she named on of her chosen tracks on the radio show Desert Island Discs. The track? "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" She also mentioned family singalongs while smoking "twenty fags." And then there's her whippet thin body well into middle age... Either way, she could have been hit by a bus and died at 49.

by Anonymousreply 33April 19, 2021 1:19 PM

Helen McCrory glamourised smoking, and only a fool would argue against her smoking being as much a reason why this too young woman is dead as John Candy’s weight was for him.

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by Anonymousreply 34April 19, 2021 1:31 PM

One doesn't need to argue. It's redundant. There's no new information re the dangers of smoking, overeating etc.

by Anonymousreply 35April 19, 2021 1:38 PM

[quote] She seemed to have worked hard to prepare her husband and children for life after her death. She said she wanted "Daddy to have lots of girlfriends" but to hold off snogging anyone at the funeral service.

I din't know her work but based on his tribute in one of the UK papers she sounds like she was a very wonderful person.

It also sounds like, even during her sickness, she was raising money for COVID help for actors, etc.

She had good taste in men.

Cheers to her.

by Anonymousreply 36April 19, 2021 1:40 PM

For those of you who'd like to hear her Desert Island Discs.....

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by Anonymousreply 37April 19, 2021 1:46 PM

The cancer seemed so quick and aggressive and treatment-resistant, that there’s a good chance it was ovarian. It also could have been a skin cancer that metastised very quickly and out of nowhere. Not ruling out lung cancer, just saying it might not be.

Anyway, as R35 says, it hardly matters now, unless there was a chance that earlier checks and vigilance could have helped her survival chances (and ergo, could help people still living to know).

by Anonymousreply 38April 19, 2021 2:26 PM

About fifteen years ago I saw her onstage in As You Like It in the West End. The production as a whole wasn’t terrific - Jaques and Touchstone were played by two British comedians, who I knew nothing of, and both seemed to spent the whole play painstakingly trying to suss out dick and pussy jokes. It was set in a vaguely post-war “Chocolat-esque” France, which meant a lot of accordion music, bicycles being pushed across stage and company members pretending to be beret-wearing existentialists miming arguments in the background, and the rustic characters were all directed to speak in cringey Pepe LePew accents. But Helen McCrory’s Rosalind was breathtaking - passionate, hilarious, fierce, vulnerable, completely real and wildly sexy. It’s to this day, the best performance of a Shakespeare heroine that I have ever seen. Furthermore, she was playing opposite Dominic West and Sienna Miller, both of whom where at the golden peak of their beauty - and all I wanted to do was watch her. She was a real star.

by Anonymousreply 39April 19, 2021 2:37 PM

[quote] It was set in a vaguely post-war “Chocolat-esque” France, which meant a lot of accordion music, bicycles being pushed across stage and company members pretending to be beret-wearing existentialists miming arguments in the background, and the rustic characters were all directed to speak in cringey Pepe LePew accents.

The Branagh-directed Romeo And Juliet set in a La Dolce Vita Italy was similarly on those nose, but it featured a fab Derek Jacobi as an elder Mercutio

by Anonymousreply 40April 19, 2021 6:09 PM

R8 One of those terminal cancers Rose.

by Anonymousreply 41April 19, 2021 6:22 PM

[quote][R8] One of those terminal cancers Rose.

STFU you bloody moron. Don't be a snarky asshole. The Golden Girl 'jokes' are beyond tiresome. Don't assume every gay man enjoys the Golden Girls, I don't. I cannot stand that show. After watching something else on TVLand, if I hear the opening music, I run for my TV remote!

Anyway, re Helen McCrory, anyone who is fan of any celebrity, usually wants to know exactly what they died from. It's human nature to ask such a question. It's never a stupid question.

by Anonymousreply 42April 20, 2021 12:04 AM

She made being in her 50s and careworn look really sexy. That’s hard to do.

by Anonymousreply 43April 20, 2021 12:08 PM

Well, she was never an ingenue.

by Anonymousreply 44April 20, 2021 1:28 PM

R40 it really isn’t Branagh if it isn’t on-the-nose. The man is subtle as a brick.

by Anonymousreply 45April 21, 2021 12:33 PM

R42 Calm down Rose. I didn't tell that GG joke for you..

by Anonymousreply 46April 22, 2021 8:42 PM

R31, you're an IDIOT. And probably a smoking one.

"Tobacco use causes many types of cancer, including cancer of the lung, larynx (voice box), mouth, esophagus, throat, bladder, kidney, liver, stomach, pancreas, colon and rectum, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia. People who use smokeless tobacco (snuff or chewing tobacco) have increased risks of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, and pancreas."

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by Anonymousreply 47April 22, 2021 8:49 PM

Helen WHO?

by Anonymousreply 48April 22, 2021 8:52 PM

Her Desert Island Discs was heartbreaking but really showed what good fun she was. She had to have known she was dying, right?

by Anonymousreply 49April 22, 2021 8:55 PM

She looks like the exorcist

by Anonymousreply 50April 22, 2021 9:44 PM

Very sad. She and her hubby were well-matched.

by Anonymousreply 51April 22, 2021 9:45 PM

R5

I also saw her in the National's production -- on Youtube during the pandemic. She was amazing.

by Anonymousreply 52April 22, 2021 9:47 PM

Great actress, and wonderful person. Helen McCrory will be missed by many.

Loved her being deliciously evil in Dead Gorgeous with co-star Fay Ripley.

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by Anonymousreply 53June 10, 2021 11:34 AM

Not to bang on about this, but for a very heavy smoker she had quite good teeth, still.

by Anonymousreply 54June 10, 2021 6:05 PM

Look who is in the background of this photo. It's Helen!

This was taken a few years ago, at some London charity event.

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by Anonymousreply 55June 10, 2021 8:38 PM

R54

Contrary to popular belief on DL and elsewhere dental care and hygiene in UK has everything one can find in USA. OTC products are available for whitening and stain removal of teeth, then there are always trips to the dentist.

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by Anonymousreply 56June 10, 2021 11:23 PM

I don't think that's McCrory in the background. It looks like an Iranian woman.

by Anonymousreply 57June 10, 2021 11:25 PM

Oh no! I’m streaming Peaky Blinders right now.

by Anonymousreply 58June 10, 2021 11:28 PM

[Quote] I’m streaming Peaky Blinders right now.

Don't worry, you had nothing to do with it. She's dead months.

by Anonymousreply 59June 10, 2021 11:30 PM

She was UGLY!

by Anonymousreply 60June 10, 2021 11:34 PM

But I didn’t know! Now it will be like watching a ghost.

by Anonymousreply 61June 10, 2021 11:36 PM

Polly Gray lives on in our hearts.

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by Anonymousreply 62June 10, 2021 11:39 PM

He looks gayish. Probably gave her the HPV.

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by Anonymousreply 63June 10, 2021 11:40 PM

Lewis has an off centre chin, like Tyler Posey.

by Anonymousreply 64June 11, 2021 12:09 AM

[quote]I don't think that's McCrory in the background. It looks like an Iranian woman.

That's definitely Helen, she was listed as being at the event. The two men in the photo are British South Asians, not Iranians. The man on the right is actor Riz Ahmed.

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by Anonymousreply 65June 11, 2021 12:25 AM

R60 I’m decomposing as we speak, and still I’m better-looking than you, darl!

by Anonymousreply 66June 11, 2021 10:11 AM
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