Actor Pete Postlethwaite dies

By ⋅ January 3, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
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Actor Pete Postlethwaite died on January 2, 2011 (Photo: Dave Morris)

Tell us about your favorite Pete Postlethwaite movie

The Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite has died after a long fight with cancer. He was 64. The World’s Alex Gallafent has a remembrance. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern)

By Alex Gallafent

The British actor Pete Postlethwaite has died at the age of 64. He had been suffering from cancer.

Postlethwaite was a classic example of that most anonymous-sounding category: the character actor. You might not know his name, but you recognized his face.

He was a well-regarded actor, so much so that the director Steven Spielberg once dubbed him ‘the finest actor in the world’.

Postlethwaite joked that what Spielberg really said was, “Pete thinks he’s the best actor in the world.”

Anything to deflect the praise and acclaim that came his way. And by all accounts, Postlethwaite was a humble man, interested more in his work than the plaudits that followed.

In the climax of the film, “Brassed Off,” about a brass band from a coal mining community that’s facing mine closures, Postlethwaite gives a non-acceptance speech.

“This band behind me will tell you that this trophy means more to me that owt else in the whole world. But they’d be wrong. Truth is I thought it mattered, thought that music matters. But not compared to how people matter. Us winning this trophy won’t mean bugger all to most people. But us refusing it, like what we’re going to do now, well then it becomes news, doesn’t it, you see what I mean.”

“Brassed Off” was a quintessentially British story. But Postlethwaite was also a regular in Hollywood, with directors taking full advantage of his rough, craggy face and his rich, authoritative voice.

His roles included the lawyer Kobayashi in “The Usual Suspects”; Father Laurence in “Romeo and Juliet,” alongside Leonardo DiCaprio; and, in 1993, the wrongly-imprisoned Giuseppe Conlon, from the film In “The Name of The Father.”

That role brought Pete Postlethwaite an Oscar nomination. Film critic Jason Solomons said Postlethwaite had a kind of power when he got on the screen. “In five minutes he could create these characters with one look, with one little gesture of the shoulder, that is the superb skill of the screen actor.”

Pete Postlethwaite was a private man. He lived in the English countryside, far from the bright lights. But from time to time, Postlethwaite did let his personal attitudes affect his professional choices.

A couple years back, he agreed to take part in a film about climate change, playing the role of an archivist living a devastated future. That was a small risk, putting his personal beliefs front and center. But Postlethwaite thought it worth it. And great actors have to take a few risks.

“There’s always fear,” Postlethwaite said. “There’s always fear for whatever you do. Fear of climbing, fear of taking your clothes off, but, I mean, they’re the kind of things that you face as an actor, I think. I mean, eventually, you know, you should be able to act without anything on. I mean, you can put a costume on anybody and make ‘em look something but it’s what actually is behind that costume that’s important.”

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Discussion

10 comments for “Actor Pete Postlethwaite dies”

  • http://www.theworld.org The World

    Tell us about your favorite Pete Postlethwaite here.

  • Don Vaughn

    Since you asked, I do have a recollection of Mr. Postlethwaite as an actor that I reflect on frequently and periodically re-enjoy: He played the Big Game hunter hired by the “evil” genetics firm to raid the remaining dinosaur stock on the “other” island in Jurassic Park II. It was a strong role and the character came off as such, He did a very good job—but there was a subtle, non-stereotypical homosexual element to the piece. The character had bartered guide services for the opportunity to shoot a T. Rex—which he did eventually, with a drug dart—a BIG DRUG DART. But he lost his “partner” or friend—it’s not made much more clear by the dialog—when things went awry, as things do in Jurassic Park movies. His heartfelt portrayal was subtle, well done and stoic. Some of, if not the best, acting (no “yelling and screaming”) in the movie!

    Thanks!

    Don Vaughn
    San Diego, California

  • william plikaitis

    He was invisible in The Last of the Mohegans, and he steals the show from Sean Bean in the Sharp series. In that he talked to the inside of his military hat as if his mother where in there and to this day his skill and technique as an actor make me continue to believe his mom is in there and that he will show up even after leaving for a while.

    Pete, jump up and live again.

  • Bryan Brown

    I first saw him the crazy sergeant in “Sharp’s Eagle”, when it played on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre back around 1993. I concur with William P. He stole the movie. I’ve had fun since then finding him in other movies. It’s not easy. He inhabited his parts so well that it was like camoflauge.

  • Roger Jackson

    His part as a agent for an evil guy in The Usual Suspects. Was very good. Excellent!

  • marcia Keeney

    He recently played a very scary role in “the town ” as the head of a theft crime ring organizing the heists. Though he looked ill in this movie, which may have been his last, he radiated power and evil like he was in his prime. Great actor. I will miss him.

  • Elizabeth McCommon

    Having spent years trying to prevent the building of high voltage power lines,the carrier of dangerous electromagnetic fields, I was entranced by “Among Giants,” a look into the lives of a brave, daredevil maintainance crew of such structures led by Postlethwaite’s character. It sticks in my mind more than any of the other films of this man, one of my favorite actors. What a loss.

  • Laura

    By far my favorite movie was “Brassed Off,” where Peter plays a man so singularly devoted to music that he simultaneously gives hope, pride & dignity to the brass band in a coal mining town going under, while also nearly trampling his son’s own hardships & realities, all the while denying as long as humanly possible that he’s dying of ‘black lung.’ It’s one of 3 movies that I’m familiar with covering that period in English History —the others The Full Monty, Billy Elliot. While Full Monty gave a lighter humorous take on the times, Billy Elliot & Brassed Off offer a deeper, emotionally stirring and ultimately uplifting view of the devastation of Thatcher’s decision to shut down so many of the mines in England with minimal economic mitigation for the people who depended on them.

  • http://www.theworld.org The World

    Postlethwaite had some great performances. Thanks for sharing everyone!

  • Curt G

    Mr Postlethwaite lived in Shropshire border area of England. After the suicide of my cousin, Caitlin Hurcombe, in 1998 in the nearby town of Clun. Pete, who was acquainted with my aunt, contributed money and his name to a small charity that provides college tuition to disadvantaged rural youth in Caitlin’s name. Caitlin’s Jump Start provides tuition help to young people to this day and it was Pete’s name and monetary support that gave it the foundation to continue. He was a very private man and must have really believed in this to expose himself publicly.
    A great actor, an even better man. RIP