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Helen McCrory on Desert Island Discs Podcast

Helen Dishes About Her Better Half

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | June 28, 2020

Helen McCrory OBE is one of the most versatile and critically acclaimed actresses working today. On screen she has played Anna Karenina, Cherie Blair (twice), Harry Potter‘s Narcissa Malfoy and the Peaky Blinders matriarch Aunt Polly. Her theatre roles range from Yelena in Uncle Vanya to Euripides‘ Medea.

A diplomat’s daughter, she spent her early childhood in Africa before continuing her education in the UK. After a bruising and unsuccessful audition at the Drama Centre in London – she was instructed to find out more about life before learning to act – she travelled to Italy where she discovered art and love and came back to try again. This time she passed the audition.

In 1993 she made her mark in Richard Eyre’s production of Trelawny of the Wells at the National Theatre and went on to perform leading roles on some of London’s most prestigious stages, winning two Olivier Award nominations. She was awarded an OBE for services to drama in 2017.

She met her husband, fellow actor Damian Lewis, when they both starred in a play called Five Gold Rings. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic Helen and Damian, together with the comedian Matt Lucas, co-founded the Feed NHS campaign which raises money to provide hot meals to frontline NHS workers.

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Categories Charity Damian Lewis Feed NHS Personal and Family Life

FeedNHS Expands Fundraising Efforts

Rolling Out the Nationwide Campaign

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 16, 2020

FeedNHS is expanding its fundraising efforts from £1M to £2M. So far, £1,239,800 (*updated June 12) has been raised of the £2,000,000 target (61%). Just launched on March 27, it took the coalition only 10 days to raise the first £1M. And now they want to do it again in order to expand nationwide.

For more information, visit their FeedNHS website here and to donate, please visit the JustGiving campaign here. Here is a recent story Damian and Helen shared online:

“Hi, we’ve been raising as much money as we can to help feed NHS workers one healthy meal each day. We started in the hardest hit London hospitals and with the help of our coalition partners we’ve now taken it nationwide.

We had a target to raise 1 million pounds for our scheme and thanks to the public’s overwhelming generosity we’ve raised it. Thank you! But as more hospitals have heard about what we’re doing it’s become clear that we mustn’t stop. So our aim now is to raise 2 million (in total ) which will enable us to feed even more hospital workers across the nation. So if you can, and we know not everyone can, please donate. With you, we know we can make up the difference.

We’re Damian and Helen and like all the best things in life, this started with a chat to a friend.”

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Categories Damian Lewis Feed NHS Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media

Coping With COVID-19 Crisis: Damian Lewis & Helen McCrory

 On Feeding Health Workers After Filming Halted On ‘Billions’ & ‘Peaky Blinders’

Jake Kenter | April 6, 2020 | Deadline

Damian Lewis Helen McCrory Coping with COVID 19 Crisis

As coronavirus crashed through the TV business, husband and wife Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory were among those cast adrift. Lewis was making Season 5 of Billions, while McCrory was on the brink of going into production on Season 6 of Peaky Blinders. Now, both are holed up in their British countryside home in Suffolk. But far from quietly riding out the COVID-19 tsunami, the pair have leashed an anchor of sorts and are using their platform for a much-needed mission to feed frontline health care workers in the UK.

McCrory said she spent one day doing hair and makeup and tests for Peaky Blinders, during which it dawned on much of the production team that “something very big is coming.” She explains: “The next morning I woke and told my producer I’m not comfortable doing this anymore… Cillian Murphy did the same. Together with the producers, we approached the BBC and said we’re going to pull this now before we have to do this down the line.” Production was halted March 16, a mere three weeks ago. “That all seems like a very different world at the moment. Terribly unimportant,” McCrory reflects.

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Categories Books Personal and Family Life

Helen McCrory’s 10 Favorite Books

Bookworm

by Staff | Vulture | February 28, 2020

Bookseller One Grand Books has asked celebrities to name the ten titles they’d take to a desert island, and it’s shared the results with Vulture. Today, actor Helen McCrory shares her list. “Both of my parents are bookworms, and even though my dad was a diplomat, and we moved from place to place, the two things we took everywhere with us were paintings and books,” she says. “I’m appalled to say I do not like a Kindle or an audiobook; I like a book.”

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Categories Damian Lewis Personal and Family Life Theatre

Helen and Damian Attend Uncle Vanya Press Night

VIP Arrivals

by Gingersnap4Helen | helen-mccrory.com | January 23, 2020

Our favorite couple Damian and Helen were VIP arrivals for the press night performance of Uncle Vanya at The Harold Pinter Theatre on January 23, 2020 in London, England. Finishing off the evening, they attended the after party at Sophie’s. Hope they stay warm!

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