Renowned stage and film performer Pete Postlethwaite, who received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Jim Sheridan’s 1993 political drama In the Name of the Father, died at a Shropshire, U.K., hospital. Postlethwaite, who had been suffering from cancer, was 64.
In addition to In the Name of the Father, in which he plays Daniel Day-Lewis’ unjustly imprisoned father, Postlethwaite’s other notable film roles include the mysterious Kobayashi in Bryan Singer’s mystery classic The Usual Suspects (1995), and most recently, Cillian Murphy’s dying businessman-father in Christopher Nolan’s 2010 blockbuster Inception.
Among Postlethwaite’s other film credits are Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Lasse Hallström’s The Shipping News (2001), Fernando Meirelles’ The Constant Gardener (2005), John Moore’s The Omen (2006), Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans (2010), and Ben Affleck’s The Town (2010).
Postlethwaite’s death is the second film/theater world death announced in 2011. Earlier today, veteran Swedish performer Per Oscarsson was presumed dead following a fire that destroyed his home in southwest Sweden.