The BBC is reporting the sad news that Oscar nominated British actor Pete Postlethwaite has passed away after a lengthy illness. He was 64. The actor had been battling cancer, but despite his fight had continued working until very recently.
Born in Warrington, Cheshire in 1946, he started out teaching drama at school in the north-west before training to be an actor himself at the Bristol Old Vic. A veteran of repertory theatre and the RSC in the 70s, Postlethwate started making small TV appearances aroudn the same time, but while he was becoming increasingly revered in theatre circles, it wasn’t until the 90s that he really started making an impact on the big screen.
He took roles in Zeferelli’s Hamlet, Alien3 and The Last Of The Mohicans, but it was 1993’s In The Name Of The Father that really made Hollywood take notice. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Giuseppe Conlon, who was falsely convicted of the IRA’s Guildford pub bombings.
After this success he was in demand for films, appearing in The Usual Suspects, Dragonheart, Romeo + Juliet, Brassed Off, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Shipping News, Aeon Flux and more recently Clash of The Titans, Solomon Kane, Inception and The Town. It’s certainly good that while his big screen roles had become fewer in number in the last decade, in the last year he’s appeared in some very strong movie which really showed off his talent. He’s also had some very strong theatre role in recent years, including King Lear as Liverpool’s Everyman theatre. His final film role, in Killing Bono, will be seen in cinemas in early April.
Postlethwaite was a much loved figure, with Steven Spielberg once describing him as “the best actor in the world”. He was made on OBE in 2004 for services to drama.
Peter Postlethwaite – February 16th, 1946-January 2nd, 2011 – RIP