Pete Postlethwaite 1946-2011
Well, this is a pretty sad way to start the new year. My heart sank when I saw the news that British actor Pete Postlethwaite has passed away over the weekend. He apparently had a long struggle with cancer, and passed away peacefully in a hospital in Shropshire, England yesterday. He continued to work right up to the end even while receiving treatment, and put in some memorable performances this year in The Town, Inception and Clash of the Titans. Spielberg supposedly referred to him as the “best actor in the world” at one point after working with him on The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad. He was 64 years old.
Postlethwaite was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Guiseppe Conlon in the 1993 film In The Name Of The Father, but his filmography is both lengthy and impressive. Some of his other noteworthy films include The Usual Suspects and Romeo + Juliet, but personally I will always remember him as the bumbling bard Gilbert of Glockenspur in the 1996 fantasy film DragonHeart. He still has one more upcoming role in a movie called Killing Bono that is still to be released in 2011. What are your favourite Pete Postlethwaite performances?
Comments (12)
He has been and will always be Father Lawrence from Romeo + Juliet for me.
Posted by Colin on January 3rd, 2011This sucks. Sooooooooo many good roles.
Rest easy Mr. Kobayashi.
Posted by Mark In Ottawa on January 3rd, 2011For me, his best role was Guiseppe Conlon, to be one of the standout characters in a top-notch movie that also stars Daniel Day-Lewis speaks volumes about the guy’s ability
Posted by The Hoge on January 3rd, 2011he was definitely a great character actor appearing so many great roles, my fav was The Usual Suspects and In The Name of the Father. just watched him in The Town and that was great too.
Posted by MikeH on January 3rd, 2011Just seen him in The Town. Shame he never got his statue…
Posted by John on January 3rd, 2011He made every movie better.
Posted by Werner on January 3rd, 2011That is pretty devastating. What a trooper though, worked until the very end. I didn’t even know he was sick.
Posted by Senor G on January 3rd, 2011Aw man…this breaks my heart. I’m infamous among my friends for being a HUGE Pete Postlethwaite fan.
My fondest memories of Pete have got to be from Romeo + Juliet, James And The Giant Peach, and Alien 3.
Posted by Rian on January 3rd, 2011To me Pete was a brilliant actor.I never saw a bad performance.He will be sadly missed .
Posted by Sallie Taylor on January 3rd, 2011RIP dear man.
I need to say Brassed Off a film made in my home town was a credit to Pete and all the cast members.
Posted by Sallie Taylor on January 3rd, 2011Sad to hear this outstanding actor left us behind…
Posted by MGL on January 4th, 2011Tbh I’m un aware of many of the people that pass as they were before my time but this is a name that I was not expecting to appear on the site, I forgot he was in inception
Posted by Rob on January 5th, 2011Leave a Reply