British actor Pete Postlethwaite dies, aged 64, after illness

Jan 3, 2011, 11:39 GMT

London - British actor Pete Postlethwaite, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the 1994 film In the Name of the Father, has died at the age of 64 after a lengthy battle with cancer, a spokesman for his family said Monday.

Postlethwaite, who worked on several films with Steven Spielberg, including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, was once described by the Hollywood director as the 'best actor in the world.'

The actor, who received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) award from Queen Elizabeth II in 2004, had continued to work until recent months despite receiving treatment for cancer.

His family has requested that the media respect their privacy, his friend and journalist Andrew Richardson said. He died peacefully in hospital on Sunday.

Postlethwaite received his Oscar nomination for his performance as Guiseppe Conlon in the 1994 film In The Name Of The Father, which tells the story of the so-called Guildford Four bombers, wrongly convicted in Britain for a bomb attack carried out by the former Irish Republic Army (IRA) terrorist organization.

In it, he starred alongside his friend and fellow actor Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson.

Actor Bill Nighy, who performed with Postlethwaite at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre in the 1970s, paid tribute to 'a rare and remarkable man'.

'I was honoured by his friendship - he is irreplaceable,' Nighy said.

Postlethwaite's other films included Brassed Off, The Usual Suspects, The Shipping News, Inception, Romeo & Juliet and The Town.

Born in Warrington, in the county of Cheshire in north-west England, Postlethwaite had originally planned to be a priest.

He later became a teacher but eventually followed his passion for the stage, beginning his career at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool where he met future stars including Nighy, Julie Walters, Alan Bleasdale, Jonathan Pryce, Matthew Kelly and Anthony Sher.

In 2008, he returned to the Everyman to play the lead in King Lear, a role that he had always wanted to play. The performance was one of the highlights of Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture that year.

Postlethwaite was also a political activist who marched against the war in Iraq, supported the Make Poverty History campaign and starred in the 2009 film about global warming, The Age of Stupid.

He is survived by his wife, Jacqui, his son Will and daughter, Lily.

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