I don't normally write tributes for this blog but Pete Postlethwaite was an actor who was very dear to me. There was just something about him that I responded to, and I'm sad to see him go at the too-soon age of 64. He was one of the modern kings of character acting.
Like most people, I first noticed Postlethwaite in In The Name of the Father. I was about fourteen at the time, and it was one of the first films I ever attached myself to as a serious film fan. Partially this was because of Daniel Day-Lewis's amazing performance, partially it was because of the unjust true story behind the film, partially it was because of the brilliant Jimi Hendrix song that featured near the film's beginning, but mostly it was because of Postlethwaite's performance as Giuseppe Conlon. Director-writer Jim Sheridan wrote the part as the conscious antithesis of years of negative father figure characters in Irish literature, and Postlethwaite did a more than brilliant job at embodying the positive aspects of the character. Giuseppe Conlon was a caring father whose frail body was in direct disproportion to an unwavering inner strength, and with this one performance Postlethwaite completely dismantled a longstanding Irish stereotype and provided the focal point for much of the film's emotional punch.
Like a lot of British actors Postlethwaite got his start on the stage and in television. His unique looks and flair for interesting but realistic characterisation soon gave him a way into feature films though, and from the early 1990s onwards he began getting cast in a wide variety of mainstream films in supporting roles. His monk-like physicality made him ideally suited for Alien 3, and he first played opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans as a British 17th century captain. After this he made In The Name of the Father and got an Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his troubles. He was memorable as the improbably named Mr. Kobayashi in The Usual Suspects and as the comedy-relief scribe Gilbert in Dragonheart. One of his best roles though was undoubtedly that of Danny, the monomaniacal band conductor in Brassed Off. Steven Spielberg had the intelligence to cast him in The Lost World and Amistad, where he made an impression amongst distinguished ensemble casts. After this he had a small but central role in the quirky indie film Rat, and continued working through the 2000s in a variety of films both small and well-knowN... The Constant Gardener, The Shipping News, the Australian comedy Strange Bedfellows, Aeon Flux, the remake of The Omen, etc, etc.
In recent years Postlethwaite seemed to disappear from the screen, but then last year he started making a comeback of sorts with the films Clash of the Titans, Inception and The Town. He was woefully underused in the latter two (Inception grimly featured him playing a mostly-wordless character on a deathbed), but The Town gave him a decent and effective role as a ruthless fence moonlighting as a florist. It's a shame that he's now been taken away so suddenly as it looked like he was starting to finally cash in on all those small but memorable characters he helped create in the 1990s, with the new generation of filmmakers casting him in new and interesting projects. It's some small comfort that his death has provoked so many tributes amongst the film and film-fan community... he'll be sorely missed, and he was always one of my favourites.
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