'Peaky Blinders' Star Helen McCrory Passes Away at Age 52

Every so often, a piece of horrible news lands in your lap that feels like the equivalent of being punched in the face. Such is the announcement that Helen McCrory, a powerhouse actress that has starred in everything from Peaky Blinders to Harry Potter, passed away at the age of just 52 years old after a battle with cancer.

To say I am gutted to write this is an incredible understatement. Helen McCrory is one of the rare performers that I would watch do absolutely anything precisely because she has done everything with incomparable style and grace That we are all robbed of her incredible talent while she was still so young just feels very, very wrong.

Probably most Anglophiles are familiar with McCrory's work from her performance Peaky Blinders' indomitable Polly Gray, a gangland matriarch who is every inch as fierce and tough as the men around her. But the breadth of her resume is honestly astonishing, including everything from blockbuster franchises (Harry Potter, where she plays Narcissa Malfoy) to political dramas (Roadkill) and complicated science fiction (Penny Dreadful and Doctor Who).

She was  also an award-winning stage performer, with roles that range from Euripides to Shakespeare to Chekov. If you have a free minute this weekend, rent her incredible lead turn in Medea on the National Theatre at Home service. It's just breathtakingly good. Like so good I'm honestly angry we won't get the chance to see her do something like this again.

The heartbreaking news of her death was announced by McCrory's husband, actor Damian Lewis, on Twitter.