Helen McCrory

Helen Elizabeth McCrory (17 August 1968 – 16 April 2021) was an English actress. After studying at the Drama Centre London, she made her professional stage debut in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990. Other theatre roles include playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, and Medea in the eponymous play at the Royal National Theatre.

McCrory is known for her film roles as Françoise in Charlotte Gray (2001); Cherie Blair in both The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010), alongside Michael Sheen, who portrayed husband and Prime Minister Tony Blair in both; Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films (2009, 2010, 2011); Mama Jeanne in Hugo (2011); and Clair Dowar in the James Bond film Skyfall (2012). She was also known for her television roles as Polly Gray in the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2013–2019); Madame Kali in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful (2014–15); Emma Banville in the ITV series Fearless (2017); and Kathryn Villiers in the BBC mini-series MotherFatherSon (2019).

Early life and education Helen Elizabeth McCrory was born on 17 August 1968 in Paddington, London. Her mother, Ann (née Morgans), was a Welsh physiotherapist, and her father, Iain McCrory, was a diplomat from Glasgow; they were married in 1968. She was the eldest of three children.

McCrory was educated at Queenswood School near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, then spent a year living in Italy. Upon her return to Britain, she began studying acting at the Drama Centre in London.

Career McCrory won third prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for her 1993 performance as Rose Trelawny in Trelawny of the 'Wells' at the National Theatre. In 2002, she was nominated for a London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress (for playing Elena in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse). She was later nominated for a 2006 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for her role as Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End. She appeared in Charles II: The Power and The Passion (2003), as Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine and in supporting roles in such films as Interview with the Vampire (1994), Charlotte Gray (2001), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and Casanova (2005). In the critically acclaimed film The Queen (2006), she played Cherie Blair, a role she reprised in Peter Morgan's follow-up The Special Relationship (2010). In 2010 and 2011, she reprised her role in the final films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. She also played the principal villain role of Rosanna Calvierri in the 2010 episode "The Vampires of Venice" of the BBC television series Doctor Who. In the same year, she also appeared in the twenty-third James Bond film Skyfall as Clair Dowar MP. McCrory also played lead role, wedding director Julie Ranmore, in the three-part ITV drama Leaving. In 2013, McCrory narrated poetry for The Love Book App, an interactive anthology of love literature developed by Allie Byrne Esiri. Again in 2013, she played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at the Little Angel Theatre. The same year, she began playing Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders, which she continued to star in alongside Cillian Murphy for 5 series until 2019.

In 2014, McCrory played the title role in the National Theatre's production of Medea, directed by Carrie Cracknell. Her performance was critically acclaimed. Also in 2014, she made a guest appearance on the TV series Penny Dreadful. She returned as a regular for the show's second season, playing the main antagonist. In 2016, she starred as Hester in the stage play The Deep Blue Sea, which was filmed and shown live in cinemas worldwide on 1 September 2016 as part of National Theatre Live.

In 2019, McCrory starred as Kathryn Villiers in Tom Rob Smith's MotherFatherSon alongside Richard Gere and Billy Howle. It averaged 2.69 million viewers. In 2020, she played Sonia Woodley QC in the ITV drama Quiz, which received a large audience while it was on the air during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns with the first episode seen live by an average of 5.3 million viewers in the UK. In June 2020, McCrory was featured in an episode of the BBC Radio 4's programme Desert Island Discs; Donna Ferguson from The Guardian called the episode one of five key shows in the programme's 80 year history. In her final television performance, she starred as Prime Minister Dawn Ellison in the BBC four-part drama Roadkill, which aired in October 2020. Their main home was in Tufnell Park, north London, and they had another near Sudbury in Suffolk.

Philanthropy McCrory served as an honorary patron of the London children's charity Scene & Heard. She also served as patron for the charity Sir Hubert von Herkomer (HVH) Arts Foundation, dedicated to offering youth a gateway to the arts, which her husband Damian Lewis took over as patron in 2021 following her death. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she and Lewis supported Feed NHS, a programme to give food from high-street restaurants to NHS staff, and had raised £1 million for the charity by early April 2020. In 2022, Lewis received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) partially for their charity work with the NHS, which he shared with McCrory by posting to Twitter with the hashtag #CBESharingItWithHelen and telling the PA news agency "She and I are both thrilled". McCrory was also an ambassador with the charity The Prince's Trust, which she spoke about on Good Morning Britain in her final public appearance in March 2021.

Death McCrory died of breast cancer at her home in London on 16 April 2021, aged 52. Announcing the death on Twitter, husband Damian Lewis stated that she had died "peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family." She had kept her diagnosis private while receiving treatment and continuing to work. "Very, very few people" knew of her illness before her death as she did not want her illness to overshadow her professional and charitable work.

Following her death, the storyline for season 6 of Peaky Blinders had to be altered and certain parts were reshot.

Television Year Title Role Notes 1993 Full Stretch Vicki Goodall Episode: "Risky Business" Performance Jean Rice Episode: "The Entertainer" 1995 Screen Two Jo Episode: "Streetlife" 1996 The Fragile Heart Nicola Pascoe 3 episodes 1998 Spoonface Steinberg Mother Television film 2010 Doctor Who Rosanna Calvierri Episode: "The Vampires of Venice" 2012 We'll Take Manhattan Lady Clare Rendlesham Television film 2014–2015 Penny Dreadful Evelyn Poole (Madame Kali) Recurring (Season 1); Main role (Season 2); 12 episodes 2019–2020 His Dark Materials Stelmaria (voice) Voice cast (Series 1-2); 4 episodes Teechers Gail Saunders Blood Wedding The Bride 1992 Fuente Ovejuna Jacinta Don't Fool With Love Camille 1993 Trelawny of the 'Wells' Rose Trelawny 1994–1995 The Devil's Disciple Judith Anderson National Theatre 1995 Keely And Du Keely Olympia Theatre 1998 In a Little World of Our Own Deborah Donmar Warehouse 1999 The Triumph of Love Princess Leonide (alias Phocion) Almeida Theatre 2005 As You Like It Rosalind Wyndham's Theatre 2008 Rosmersholm Rebecca West Almeida Theatre 2010–2012 The Late Middle Classes Celia Smithers Donmar Warehouse 2014 Medea Medea Olivier Theatre

Awards and honours

In 2016, McCrory received an honorary doctorate from the University of York. In 2017, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to drama.

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