Helen McCrory's life celebrated at star-studded memorial
Helen McCrory's life has been celebrated at a star-studded memorial, one year after her shock death.
The 52-year-old actress passed away in 2021 after a secret battle with breast cancer and stars including Benedict Cumberbatch. Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, and Keeley Hawes came together with her husband Damian Lewis, 51, and children Manon, 15 and Gulliver, 14, this week, to celebrate her life.
The memorial was held at St Paul’s Church in London’s Covent Garden and a family guest told the Daily Mail newspaper: "It was absolutely wonderful, and Damian was fantastic in arranging it despite his grief. 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 in the National, was here.
"We knew that she had been ill for a very long time. Battled her way through it, 'Peaky Blinders', other plays. She only had one arm – the operation had cut the nerve.
"And at the end of it she died at home with Damian and everybody around her just [arranging] everything, including this [the memorial]."
Another attendee added: "It was just the most beautiful memorial. It was very touching. Speechless."
The service featured Beethoven’s 'Ode to Joy' and the hymn 'Guide me, O thou Great Redeemer'.
Manon delivered a reading, and Gulliver played the guitar.
A reading on her 'leading men', Maya Angelou’s poem, 'Touched by an Angel', Bob Dylan’s 'To Be Alone with You' and a film called 'In Her Own Words' were all featured in the service.
