by Nathaniel R
It is with great sadness that we share the unexpected news that the always wonderful British actress Helen McRory has passed away. She died of cancer (a diagnosis she had kept hidden as she continued on with charity work during the pandemic) at the age of 52 on Friday.
She made her big screen debut inauspiciously, as so many stars do, playing a doomed young woman in Interview with the Vampire (1994)...
That small gig proved prescient. Many more lush period dramas and supernatural projects would follow. Neil Jordan wasn't the last lauded director she ended up working with, either. Stephen Frears and Martin Scorsese were also in her future.
Still she remained more than a little unsung despite tremendous talent. Her career moved up considerably in billing and character size (she's billed just as "2nd whore" in this classic vampire blockbuster) and this past decade things really began heating up. Most people surely remember McCrory best as "Narcissa Malfoy" in the Harry Potter franchise from 2009-2011 due to the cultural ubiquity of those films. But she had true range and enormous talent that weren't well showcased there given the role's marginal nature...
in the Harry Potter films
In fact, she had originally been cast in a much more prominent Potterverse role. She had to give up playing "Bellatrix LeStrange" in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) due to pregnancy. It's hard not to wonder what her Bellatrix would have been like especially since she later got to share scenes with Helena Bonham-Carter who replaced her.
in "A Little Chaos"
in "Hugo"
in "Peaky Blinders"
She was much better showcased in her five seasons as "Aunt Polly" on Peaky Blinders (National Film Awards nomination, Best Actress TV). She was scheduled for the sixth and final season (which hasn't yet aired but had started filming) but we're unsure if she had filmed episodes before her passing or what the show will do about her character's absence.
McCrory was always a welcome sight in films like Hugo, A Little Chaos, and The Queen (London Critics Circle Best Supporting Actress nomination) though her roles were often too small for her talents. So many fans were surely waiting for the movies and TV to catch up to her magic. Her stage work was, at least, celebrated. She received both London Evening Standard and Olivier nominations.
My personal favourite of McCrory's screen performances was her devilishly well-modulated work as "Madame Kali" HBO's Penny Dreadful. In her early episodes she appears to be just a smooth operator and possible charlatan of a psychic but as she unfolded the character revealing a much more highly stylized and bigger performance in season two, she became mesmerizingly unsettling. And satanic. It was the only performance on that underappreciated and shortlived series to fully match what Eva Green was throwing down with her spectacularly moody and committed star turn in the leading role.
Our hearts go out to Helen's husband, the Emmy-winning actor Damian Lewis (Homeland) and their children. She will be greatly missed onscreen and stage, by her fans, especially since her best felt so likely 'yet to come'.
What was your favourite Helen McCrory performance?