A Celebration of Helen McCrory’s Life and Personality
Helenistic | helen-mccrory.com | May 20, 2022
Damian Lewis hosted a private event at St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden (aka The Actors’ Church) to celebrate Helen McCrory’s life and her formidable personality.
There was laughter, tears and a standing ovation in Helen’s honor.
You can see part of the program in theatre critic Dom Cavendish’s tweet. One cannot help remember that Helen chose “To Be Alone with You” as one of her favorite tunes in Desert Island Discs and she added that she had a blank check from Damian to run away with Bob Dylan 🙂
Immaculate celebration of the life and irrepressible personality of Helen McCrory at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden today, hosted by Damian Lewis, who drew laughter, tears and a standing ovation in her honour. pic.twitter.com/Ma9QAnifsf
— domcavendish (@domcavendish) May 20, 2022
In addition to Mr. Cavendish, some of the guests at the event were Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Mark Strong, John Simm, Helena Bonham Carter, Allie Esiri, Ralph Fiennes, Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joe Cole, Natascha McElhone, Bob Geldof and Paul Ready.
The hour-long service opened with Beethoven’s Ode to Joy and was followed by a prayer and the hymn Guide me, O thou Great Redeemer. Readings included one about her ‘leading men’, while another was a recital of Maya Angelou’s poem, Touched by an Angel. Bob Dylan’s To Be Alone with You featured, and a film titled In Her Own Words was played.
A close friend said: ‘It was just the most beautiful memorial. It was very touching. Speechless.’
A family guest shared, “It was absolutely wonderful, and Damian was fantastic in organizing 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.”
Helen’s dad Iain McCrory, to whom we know Helen was very close, attended the memorial.
A string of close friends and relatives gave speeches at the service, as well as famous acting colleagues. Mark Strong led the tributes as the actor who worked with Helen more than almost any other actor, appearing in seven different films, shows and plays together.
You can see more pictures from the memorial here.
Helen with Mark Strong in Uncle Vanya