Carey Mulligan Dedicates Her 'Promising Young Woman' Spirit Award To Late Actress Helen McCrory

Carey Mulligan is paying tribute to the late Helen McCrory. The 35-year-old Promising Young Woman actress won the Best Female Lead award at Thursday's Independent Spirt Awards, and dedicated the trophy to McCrory, who died earlier this month after a battle with cancer.

"I just want to dedicate this award to a true independent spirit and actress that I have looked up to, and will continue to look up to for the rest of my career, Helen McCrory," Mulligan said in her acceptance speech. "So thank you to her for everything she gave us."

McCrory, like Mulligan, got her start in the London theater scene. The late actress went on to play Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, and had nab other screen credits, including Peaky Blinders, Penny Dreadful and Fearless.

McCrory's husband, actor Damian Lewis, announced her death earlier this month in a statement. The couple, who tied the knot in 2007, shared two kids, Mannon, 14, and Gulliver, 13.

"I'm heartbroken to announce that after a heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of loss from friends and family," he wrote in a statement posted on social media. "She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives. She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air, and thank you."

Lewis later penned a tribute for his late wife in The Sunday Times, writing that she "was an even more brilliant person than she was an actress."

"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 wrote. "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."

"She shone more brightly in the last months than you would imagine even the brightest star could shine," he added.  "I'm staggered by her. She's been a meteor in our life."

Tom Felton, McCrory's Harry Potter co-star, also remembered the late actress, sharing a tribute on Instagram.

"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 and off screen," Felton wrote. "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."

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