Damian Lewis penned a touching tribute to his wife, Helen McCrory. The piece was published by The Sunday Times, following McCrory’s death earlier this week.
The actress — best known for her roles as Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise and Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders — died of cancer. She was 52.
“Many people have spoken about her career and many more will, so that’s where I’ll leave it, because it strikes me that two things are happening this weekend: an outpouring of grief and shock, and a celebration of Helen McCrory the actress from fans everywhere, and of Helen the person,” Lewis wrote. “And that’s who I want to talk about.”
“Helen was an even more brilliant person than she was an actress,” he continued. “She was a people person, sure. ‘I’m much more interested in who I’m with than where I am,’ she would say, and innately wanted to share. But she also lived by the principle of kindness and generosity. That you put these things out into the world to make it better, to make people feel better.”
Lewis and McCrory had been married since 2007 and shared two children together — 14-year-old daughter Mannon and 13-year-old son Gulliver. The actor said on Friday that his wife had died peacefully at home.
In his piece for The Sunday Times, Lewis remembered how McCrory “spread happiness.” “Even when dying in her last few days, when talking to our wonderful carers, she repeatedly said, ‘thank you so much’ in her half delirious state,” he wrote.
Lewis said he already missed his wife, who “shone more brightly in the last months than you would imagine even the brightest star could shine.”
“I’m staggered by her,” he added of McCrory. “She’s been a meteor in our life.”
McCrory will be remembered by both those who worked alongside her and those who admired her work. On Saturday, Tom Felton, who played McCrory’s son in the Harry Potter films, said goodbye.
“So sad to say farewell so suddenly – I never took the chance to tell her, but she helped shape me as a person so much – on & off screen,” Felton expressed. “She was always relentlessly herself- razor sharp wit – silver tongued – kind & warm hearted – she suffered no fools yet had time for everyone – thank you for lighting the way forward & holding my hand when I needed it xx.”
