Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda FrickerĪccolades: Received two Academy Awards nominated for five Growing up in the 1940s and 50s, Brown was finding his footing during a time when people with physical disabilities had few options in terms of treatment, and often endured a social stigma.īorn to a near-destitute family in working-class Dublin that included a supportive mother and an initially-dismissive father, Christy Brown used the one part of his body that functioned properly to craft legendary books that would garner a worldwide following.īased on: Autobiography by Christy Brown, 1954 The film adaptation of “My Left Foot” lays bare the trials and tribulations of Brown’s life, many of which were caused by his nearly-complete quadriplegia due to Cerebral Palsy.

The movie was an unexpected hit, and it led to the rediscovery of Brown’s work by a new generation of readers. That book was called “My Left Foot,” and in 1989, it was made into a film of the same name starring Daniel Day Lewis in the eponymous role. It was his condition that drove Brown, who was diagnosed with severe spastic Cerebral Palsy shortly after his birth in 1932, to write an autobiographical tome in 1954 that covers his life from humble beginnings in Dublin flat with his parents, Bridget and Paddy, and 12 siblings, to his struggle to train the only part of his body that worked – a foot – to write, paint and inspire the literary world. I borrowed a book of his poetry from the local library again and again, until my Dad found me a copy in a second-hand book shop in Donegal and Brown’s romantic, idealised poems very much appealed to my sixteen year-old self.“My Left Foot” explores the genius of Irish author Christy BrownĬhristy Brown was one of the 20th Century’s most unique voices he was a writer and an artist that pushed past his own physical limits to leave a compelling legacy that extends well beyond his native Dublin. I’ve written before on the blog about my love for the poetry of Christy Brown, more well-known for his novels and in particular his autobiography My Left Foot.

Author christy brown