A few years ago in a former magazine job, my biggest task every year was organising a huge, annual celebrity awards show. I’d probably look 20 years younger right now if I’d never experienced the stress of that, but I must admit, it has also gifted me with some of my funniest and most precious career-related memories.
One standout moment involves the late actress Helen McCrory. She happened to be very close friends with some pals of mine, so it wasn’t unusual for me to see her at Sunday lunch gatherings, or one particularly raucous New Year’s Eve in a pub where our dogs outnumbered the humans and enjoyable chaos ensued. But beyond a bit of small chitchat every so often, I can’t say I knew her. I didn’t even really get to talk to her the night we honoured her with a ‘film actress of the year’ award at my fancy do. (I was always too busy firefighting and keeping the whole thing organised to ever relax and enjoy the evening.)
So it was a lovely surprise when the day after that big hectic party, I received a letter from Helen. Not only were such thank-you notes quite rare from celebrities, but this one was something else. It was beautifully handwritten and long. Nothing perfunctory nor actually written by an assistant here. No: it ran to two pages full of praise for the event, my well-organised team and the atmosphere in the room. Helen said it struck her while she was sitting there that night, just how rare it was to be at an awards show that was so warm, positive and celebratory, and urged me to feel personally proud of that. The note was so heartfelt and sincere that I teared up reading it.
I never saw Helen again, but any time I think of her, or see her performances or even a picture of her, I immediately feel the way her note made me feel that day. Suddenly, all the stress of that event – the budget headaches, being screamed at by celeb agents, the terror of it being an embarrassingly empty party – felt worth it. Someone of Helen’s stature encouraging me to feel a moment of pride really affected me.
Of course, Helen should have been part of our cover story today, celebrating the female leads of Peaky Blinders for the hit show’s last-ever series. So our writer Cole Moreton pays tribute to her and her incredible body of work here. The stories about her told by her Peaky co-stars Sophie Rundle, Natasha O’Keeffe and Kate Phillips confirm that she was a woman whose blend of charisma and sincerity really stayed with those it touched. The fact that I felt it so strongly from a beautiful letter makes me quite envious of those who were in her orbit.
