Pete Postlethwaite

Peter William Postlethwaite, OBE (February 7, 1946 – January 2, 2011) was an English character actor. In a career spanning 45 years, he appeared in over 100 TV and film productions. He trained as a teacher and taught drama before training as an actor. He made his film debut in Ridley Scott‘s feature debut The Deullists (1977), with Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel. Another notable early film was A Private Function (1984), with Michael Palin and Maggie Smith.

After minor television appearances, including in The Professionals, his first major success arose through the British autobiographical film Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988). He had a transatlantic breakthrough when he portrayed David in David Fincher‘s Alien 3 (1992), with Sigourney Weaver, Charles Dance, Brian Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Ralph Brown, Paul McGann, Danny Webb, Lance Henriksen, Holt McCallany.

His international reputation was further solidified when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jim Sheridan‘s In the Name of the Father (1993), with Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson. Following this role, he portrayed the mysterious lawyer Mr Kobayashi in The Usual Suspects (1995) with Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, and Kevin Spacey; and went on to appear in a wide variety of films.

Other films in the early 1990s include Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Hamlet (1990), with Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Dillane, and Nathaniel Parker; a TV movie adaptation of Treasure Island (1990), with Charlton Heston, Christian Bale, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee, and Julian Glover; Waterland (1992), with Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and John Heard; Michael Mann‘s adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans (1992), with Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Jodhi May, Russell Means, Wes Studi, Eric Schweig, and Steven Waddington.

Films in the mid to late 90s include When Saturday Comes (1996), with Sean Bean and Emily Lloyd; Henry Selick’s adaptation of James and the Giant Peach (1996), with Paul Terry, Joanna Lumley, and Miriam Margolyes, along with the voices of Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, David Thewlis, and Margolyes; DragonHeart (1996), with Dennis Quaid, Thewlis, Dina Meyer, and the voice of Sean Connery; Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet (1996), with Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Paul Sorvino, and Diane Venora; Brassed Off (1996), with Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor; The Serpent’s Kiss (1997), with McGregor, Greta Scacchi, and Richard E. Grant; and Among Giants with Rachel Griffiths.

Director Steven Spielberg called him “the best actor in the world” after working with him on The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), with Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Arliss Howard, Vince Vaughn, Vanessa Lee Chester, Peter Stormare, and Richard Attenborough. He would also appear in Spielberg’s Amistad (1997), with Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Nigel Hawthorne, David Paymer, Stellan Skarsgård, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Films in the early 2000s include When the Sky Falls (2000), with Joan Allen, Patrick Bergin, and Liam Cunningham; Rat (2000), with Imelda Staunton; Cowboy Up (2001), with Kiefer Sutherland, Marcus Thomas, Molly Ringwald, and Daryl Hannah; Lasse Hallström’s The Shipping News (2001), with Spacey, Moore, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Jason Behr, and Gordon Pinsent; Edoardo Ponti’s Between Strangers (2002), with Klaus Maria Brandauer, Gérard Depardieu, Sophia Loren, Malcolm McDowell, Mira Sorvino, and Deborah Kara Unger; The Limit (2004), with Lauren Bacall, Claire Forlani, and Henry Czerny; Dark Water (2005), with Jennifer Connelly, Tim Roth, John C. Reilly, Perla Haney-Jardine, Dougray Scott, and Ariel Gade; The Constant Gardener (2005), with Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Hubert Koundé, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, and Donald Sumpter; Red Mercury (2005), with Stockard Channing, Juliet Stevenson, Ron Silver, and David Bradley; and Æon Flux (2005), with Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, and Frances McDormand.

Films in the mid to late 2000s include The Omen (2006), with Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Mia Farrow, and Michael Gambon; Richard Attenborough’s Closing the Ring (2007), with Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Mischa Barton, Stephen Amell, Neve Campbell, and Brenda Fricker; Clash of the Titans (2010), with Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Alexa Davalos, Fiennes, and Liam Neeson; and Christopher Nolan‘s Inception (2010), with DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine.

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year Honours list. Less than one month after his death, he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in The Town (2010), with Ben Affleck (who also directed), Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, and Titus Welliver. His final film Killing Bono (2011), with Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan, Krysten Ritter, Peter Serafinowicz, Stanley Townsend, Justine Waddell, Martin McCann; was released posthumously.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

The Racer (1975) – directed by Anthony Garner – short
The Duellists (1977) – directed by Ridley Scott
Doris and Doreen (1978) – directed by Stephen Frears – TV movie
Afternoon Off (1979) – directed by Stephen Frears – TV movie
Strike: The Birth of Solidarity (1981) – directed by Leslie Woodhead – TV movie
Fords on Water (1983) – directed by Barry Bliss
A Private Function (1984) – directed by Malcolm Mowbray
Cyrano de Bergerac (1985) – directed by Terry Hands & Michael A. Simpson – TV movie
Watching (1986) – directed by Jeremy Ancock – TV movie
Coast to Coast (1987) – directed by Sandy Johnson
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) – directed by Terence Davies
Tunbledown (1988) – directed by Richard Eyre
To Kill a Priest (1988) – directed by Agnieszka Holland
The Dressmaker (1988) – directed by Jim O’Brien
Number 27 (1988) – directed by Tristram Powell – TV movie
Treasure Island (1990) – directed by Fraser Clarke Heston – TV movie
Hamlet (1990) – directed by Franco Zeffirelli
A Child from the South (1991) – directed by Sergio Rezende – TV movie
They Never Slept (1991) – directed by Udayan Prasad – TV movie
The Grass Arena (1992) – directed by Gillies MicKinnon – TV movie
Split Second (1992) – directed by Tony Maylam & Ian Sharp
Alien 3 (1992) – directed by David Fincher
Waterland (1992) – directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal
The Last of the Mohicans (1992) – directed by Michael Mann
Anchoress (1993) – directed by Chris Newby
In the Name of the Father (1993) – directed by Jim Sheridan
Suite 16 (1994) – directed by Dominique Deruddere
Sin Bin (1994) – directed by George Case – TV movie
Sharpe’s Company (1994) – directed by Tom Clegg – TV movie
Sharpe’s Enemy (1994) – directed by Tom Clegg – TV movie
The Usual Suspects (1995) – directed by Bryan Singer
When Saturday Comes (1996) – directed by Maria Giese
James and the Giant Peach (1996)* – directed by Henry Selick
DragonHeart (1996) – directed by Rob Cohen
Crimetime (1996) – directed by George Sluizer
Romeo + Juliet (1996) – directed by Baz Luhrmann
Brassed Off (1996) – directed by Mark Herman
The Serpent’s Kiss (1997) – directed by Philippe Rousselot
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)* – directed by Steven Spielberg
Bastard (1997) – directed by Maciej Dejczer
Amistad (1997) – directed by Steven Spielberg
Among Giants (1998) – directed by Sam Miller
Lost for Words (1999) – directed by Alan J.W. Bell – TV movie
Alice in Wonderland (1999) – directed by Nick Willing – TV movie
Butterfly Collection (1999) – directed by Jean Stewart
Wayward Son (1999) – directed by Randall Harris
The Divine Ryans (1999) – directed by Stephen Reynolds
Animal Farm (1999) – directed by John Stephenson – TV movie
When the Sky Falls (2000) – directed by John Mackenzie
Rat (2000) – directed by Steve Barron
Cowboy Up (2001) – directed by Xavier Koller
The Shipping News (2001) – directed by Lasse Hallström
Triggermen (2002) – directed by John Bradshaw
Between Strangers (2002) – directed by Edoardo Ponti
The Selfish Giant (2003) – directed by Rachel Bevan-Baker – short
Strange Bedfellows (2004) – directed by Dean Murphy
The Limit (2004) – directed by Lewin Webb – aka Gone Dark
Dark Water (2005) – directed by Walter Salles
The Constant Gardener (2005) – directed by Fernando Meirelles
Red Mercury (2005) – directed by Roy Battersby
Æon Flux (2005) – directed by Karyn Kusama
Valley of the Heart’s Delight (2006) – directed by Tim Boxwell
The Omen (2006) – directed by John Moore
Ghost Son (2007) – directed by Lamberto Bava
Closing the Ring (2007) – directed by Richard Attenborough
Player (2008) – directed by Mary Nighy – short
The Age of Stupid (2009) – directed by Franny Armstrong – documentary
Solomon Kane (2009) – directed by Michael J. Bassett
Waving at Trains (2009) – directed by Sean Crotty – short
Clash of the Titans (2010)* – directed by Louis Leterrier
Inception (2010)* – directed by Christopher Nolan
The Town (2010)* – directed by Ben Affleck
Killing Bono (2011) – directed by Nick Hamm – posthumous release

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