Brenda Fricker, who won an Oscar in 1990 for her role as Bridget Brown in My Left Foot, has died at age 81 after a “period of ill health.”

Fricker’s career spanned 60 years across film, television, and theatre and she was widely recognised as one of the most respected Irish actors of her generation.

Fricker, who was born in Dublin, was awarded Freedom of the City of Dublin earlier this year as a “source of immense pride” to the city for her work.

On The Hard Shoulder, filmmaker Tadhg O’Sullivan, who worked with Fricker on his film The Swallow, said it was remarkable to hear the amount of love expressed for her with news of her passing

O’Sullivan said the integrity, honesty, and generosity she possessed were the same qualities that made her both a brilliant actor and a brilliant friend.

“She was a Dub and she was an Irish person and they were so proud of her”

Also on The Hard Shoulder was Gráinne Humphries, Director of the Dublin International Film Festival and a good friend of Fricker’s, who said she was honoured to have known Fricker.

Humphries said she was aware of how much people loved Fricker and remarked that people could connect with her as she was “one of us.”

Fricker had a “old-fashioned kind of charisma”, according to Humphries, and that she could “grab the attention of the room with a single gesture”

“Fearlessly honest and a very clear-eyed, unsentimental person”

Virginia Gilbert, also on the show, said she spoke with Fricker the day before her passing, and had spoke with her every day “for the last 15 years.”

Gilbert said Fricker had not shied away from her mortality in the weeks leading up to her death but that the subject “didn’t frighten her”.

Neighbours of Fricker’s in the Liberties, speaking to Newstalk reporter Sarah Madden, called her a wonderful woman and well-liked in the area. One man said she never forgot where she came from and remained humble.