Relatives of ‘My Left Foot’ Inspiration Share a Special High

If Christy Brown had been alive today, he would undoubtedly have celebrated the Oscar-winning triumph of “My Left Foot” with a quick trip to the pub for a pint of Guinness.

“He would be straight down to the pub for a good gargle,” his brother, Eamonn, said after the film about the disabled Irish writer scooped up two Oscars in Hollywood on Monday night.

Five of his brothers and sisters gathered in Dublin to watch the Oscar awards live on television. They whooped with joy as they telephoned Christy’s six other brothers and sisters in England to tell them the good news.

One sister, Ann, said: “We sat up all night and cheered and danced. We were on a high and felt part of the whole thing.”

Another sister, Mona, praised Daniel Day-Lewis for his portrayal of Christy, crippled at birth by cerebral palsy.

“If you closed your eyes, you would think it was Christy,” she said.

The family also lauded the Oscar-winning performance of Irish actress Brenda Fricker, who, in accepting her award, praised Mrs. Brown and said, “Anyone who gives birth 22 times deserves one of these.”

For Christy’s widow, Mary, the film has brought memories of the writer, who died suddenly in 1981, aged 48. Brown choked to death at home when particles of food stuck in his throat.

The tradition of disabled writers has now been gloriously continued by Christy Nolan, who won Britain’s most valuable book award with an autobiography laboriously typed out with a stick attached to his head and guided by his mother.

Nolan, who cannot speak, published a special poem Wednesday to commemorate the film’s Oscar-winning triumph:

Christy, cold in your grave you may be

But today in Royal Ireland you reign supreme

Be at peace--you have asked and have answered the “Why,

Why Me?”

For those of us who follow in your wheeltracks.