Steven Spielberg once called him the best actor in the world.
Pete Postlethwaite passed away on Sunday January 2, at the age of 64, from cancer.
While many film fans may not have heard of him, his emotional performances have been enjoyed by many. He started out in theatre after working as a teacher for two years. Soon, he moved onto films, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for In The Name of The Father (1993). He starred as Patrick "Guiseppe" Conlon. Conlon, a member of the Maguire Seven, was in 1976 sentenced to 12 years in prison for having nitroglycerine that was used for Irish Republican Army bombs. Conlon passed away in prison four years later but his conviction was eventually overturned. Before this, he starred in Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), which he said was his big break. Some people have said it represents his ability to play a loving man and that of playing a violent man.
He also appeared in the play within the play of Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990)and in Alien 3 (1992). He was a British captain in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), also starring Day-Lewis. He was the very weird, soft but clearly evil, Kobayashi, in Bryan Singer's masterpiece, The Usual Suspects (1995).
Alistar Anderson
