‘It was the most beautiful memorial, very touching’: Family and A-list friends including Benedict Cumberbatch and Keeley Hawes join Damian Lewis in celebrating his wife Helen McCrory, a year after the Peaky Blinders star aged died of cancer at the age of 52
- EXCLUSIVE: Stars unwrap St Paul’s Church to celebrate a year since Helen McCrory’s death from breast cancer
- Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Keeley Hawes and Helen’s widower Damian Lewis celebrated their lives
- Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was followed by a prayer and the hymn Guide me, o you great redeemer
- Her children’s daughter Manon, 15, gave a reading and son Gulliver, 14, played guitar for the guests
- A reading about their “leading actors”, Bob Dylan’s To Be Alone with You, and a film called In Her Own Words were played
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She was a feat of talent on stage and screen.
And those who worked with Helen McCrory shrugged and turned out in droves to celebrate their lives at a “beautiful” memorial service yesterday.
Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Keeley Hawes were among those who filled St Paul’s Church in London’s Covent Garden, a year after Miss McCrory’s death from breast cancer at the age of 52.
Friends and family reunited a year after Helen McCrory died of breast cancer at the age of 52
Harry Potter co-star Helen Bonham-Carter (left) shelters from the rain as she arrives at St Paul’s Church in London to remember the life of Helen McCrory. Pictured right: Her husband Damian Lewis, 51, was pictured arriving with their children
Keeley Hawes (right) and Matthew McFadden arrive for the memorial service for Helen McCrory at St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden yesterday
Her husband Damian Lewis, 51, was pictured with their children, daughter Manon, 15, who gave a reading and son Gulliver, 14, who played the guitar.
The hour-long service began with Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, followed by a prayer and the song “Führe mich, o du Großer Redeemer”.
The readings included one about her “leading men,” while another was a reading of Maya Angelou’s poem Touched by an Angel.
Bob Dylan’s To Be Alone With You was screened and a film titled In Her Own Words was played.
A family guest told the Daily Mail: “It was absolutely wonderful and Damian, despite his grief, did a fantastic job organizing it. Gully played the guitar and Manon read and all the other actors who acted with her and of course the director of her first play at the National were here.
“We knew that she had been ill for a very long time. Battled through, Peaky Blinders, other plays. She was left with only one arm – the surgery had severed the nerve.
“And she ended up dying at home with Damian and everyone around her just organizing everything, including this one [the memorial].’
Stars shrugged off the rain to celebrate the life of Ms McCrory at a “beautiful” memorial service in Covent Garden yesterday
Numerous friends, family and co-stars paid tribute to the late actress: Natascha McElhone (left) is leaving the service for Helen McCrory, who died last year at the age of 52 after a battle with cancer
Miss McCrory was known for her roles as the villainous Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films and as the matriarch Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders, the latest series of which paid tribute to her. Pictured: Other guests included Eddie Redmayne (above)
A close friend said: “It was just the most beautiful monument. It was very touching. Speechless.’
Miss McCrory was known for her roles as the villainous Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films and as the matriarch Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders, the latest series of which paid tribute to her.
In addition to their Harry Potter co-stars Miss Bonham Carter and Fiennes, many Peaky Blinders actors were in attendance, including brothers Joe and Finn Cole, who plays their nephew and son John and Michael Shelby on screen. Other guests included Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch and Natascha McElhone.
Lewis, who married Miss McCrory in 2007, announced her death in a heartbreaking statement on social media in April last year.
Miss McCrory was an OBE in the 2017 New Year Honors for services to drama and was also an award-winning stage actress, working with the National Theatre, the Almeida and the Donmar Warehouse and playing Lady Macbeth on Shakespeare’s Globe.
Rufus Norris, artistic director of the National Theatre, said she was “undoubtedly one of the greatest actresses of her generation”.
Miss McCrory made her last television appearance in March last year when she joined Lewis on Good Morning Britain to promote her work with charity The Prince’s Trust.