How Helen McCrory shone, even in a haze of mystery
From left: Emily Watson, Helen McCrory and Simon Russell Beale in Uncle Vanya, in New York, Jan. 16, 2003. I never met her, but I knew her or rather I knew the women she embodied with an intimacy that sometimes seemed like a cruel violation of privacy, writes Ben Brantley of McCrory, who died in April, 2021 at the age of 52. Stephanie Berger/The New York Times.
by Ben Brantley
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- Selfishly, my first feelings on hearing that the uncanny British actress Helen McCrory had died at 52 were of personal betrayal. We were supposed to have shared a long and fruitful future together, she and I. Thered be me on one side of the footlights and her on the other, as she unpacked the secrets of the human heart with a grace and ruthlessness shared by only a few theater performers in each generation.
Last modified on Sun 18 Apr 2021 12.49 EDT
Helen McCrory, who has died of cancer aged 52, was already established among the leading stage actors of her generation when she became known as Cherie Blair in Stephen Frears’s movie The Queen (2006), starring Helen Mirren, and with Michael Sheen as Tony; and as the witch Narcissa Malfoy, mother of Draco, in the last three Harry Potter films.
Her brisk and slinky Cherie Blair was one in a line of suited authority figures and lawyers played by McCrory, culminating in an acidulous, brutally frank but deluded Tory prime minister in David Hare’s television drama Roadkill (2020), refusing to give a “big job” to Hugh Laurie’s shameless MP. In comparison, Narcissa was a “turn,” a Gothic hoot, for all her verve and suffocating evil.
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Helen McCrory would have been the next Helen Mirren or Judi Dench
The actress leaves an extraordinary body of work, but there is no doubt that she had so much more to give
Helen McCrory was one of the finest actors of her generation
Credit: Ben Blackall
The wonder for me about Helen McCrory – whose passing, at 52, is so cruel, so sad, such a profound and premature loss to the acting profession – is how relatively long it took for people to cotton on to her magnificence.
I was lucky enough to visit the Tricycle, north London one winter evening in 1995 and see her star as Lady M in Macbeth. In fact, of course, she wasn’t then the draw – here was, surprisingly enough, a Shakespeare production at a major off-West End venue renowned for its contemporary political work. It was an oddity from artistic director Nicolas Kent. Yet within the space of a couple of hours, I emerged with her name on my lips, and the surest conviction that I had set eyes on one of the greats.
Bookings open for the RE:EMERGE Season at the Harold Pinter Theatre
April 15, 2021 Last updated:
April 15, 2021
Sonia Friedman Productions announces the dates for the RE:EMERGE season as priority booking opens on 15 April at 10.30am, with public booking opening 16 April at 10am. Amy Berryman’s Walden opens the season, with previews from 22 May, and running until 12 June; Yasmin Joseph’s J’Ouvert previews from 16 June, and runs until 3 July; and completing the season, Joseph Charlton’s Anna X previews from 10 July, and runs until 4 August. The season will observe the UK government social distancing guidelines for audiences at the time of performance, making adjustments where safe and appropriate to seating and capacity in line with current advice.