The funeral of Oscar-winning Irish actress Brenda Fricker is due to take place in Dublin on Thursday, following her death last month at the age of 81. Fricker became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award when she took best supporting actress in 1990 for playing Daniel Day-Lewis's mother in My Left Foot, a film that also earned Day-Lewis his first of three Oscars. Her death and funeral mark the passing of one of Ireland's best-known screen actresses, whose career spanned television, theatre and Hollywood film.

Born in Dublin, Fricker began her career in Irish and British television and theatre, including Ireland's first soap opera Tolka Row and a stint on Coronation Street in 1977. She became a familiar face to British audiences through the BBC's Casualty, appearing from the show's first episode in 1986 and returning periodically until 2010, and to family audiences worldwide as the Central Park "pigeon lady" in Home Alone 2 in 1992. Other film credits included So I Married an Axe Murderer, Angels in the Outfield, A Time to Kill and Veronica Guerin, though she later said her career might have taken a different path had it not been overshadowed by her Oscar success. The funeral service will be held at 11:00 local time at St Catherine's Church, followed by a private burial.