RIP Pete Postlethwaite.

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**MeanGreenStompa**

We lost a great actor to cancer today.

British acting legend Pete Postlethwaite has passed away in hospital. He was 64. The Warrington-born actor - who was nominated for an Oscar in 1994 for his turn in In The Name Of The Father - died yesterday (January 2) in Shropshire, reports the The Guardian

Postlethwaite had been undergoing treatment for cancer, despite continuing to work and appearing last year in bank heist hit The Town. His other career credits include The Constant Gardener, Brassed Off, Romeo + Juliet and The Usual Suspects.

He was once called "the best actor in the world" by Steven Spielberg, who Postlethwaite worked with in Jurassic Park: The Lost World. The actor also worked with the director on slave mutiny story Amistad in 2007.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2011/01/03/2011-01-03_pete_postlethwaite_oscarnominated_actor__usual_suspects_star_dies_of_cancer_at_a.html

here's a picture of him as one of my favourite villains, Obadiah Hakeswill from the Sharpe series.

**Howard A Treesong**

Great actor and much younger than I imagined. It's bit of a surprise to realise he's only two years older than my dad.

**Albatross**

Such a great actor. Pretty gutted about this, actually. He's been in some mega films.

**Devilsquid**

What a shame. He was one of those actors that you saw in movies, and liked, but never really knew.

**chaplaingrabthar**

Shame. He was definitely a charter member of the "Hey! It's THAT guy!" hall of fame.

And fantastic in Usual Suspects & Brassed Off

**Morathi's Darkest Sin**

He was a great actor, and seemed such a down to earth person from interviews and tv appearances.

Was just watching the Usual Suspects the other night as well.

RIP Mr Postlethwaite.

**mattyrm**

Decent actor, good in Sharpe.

But we care why now?

I can understand 14 year old girls getting upset about famous people popping their cloggs.. but come on MGS.. your a man... man!

**Tim the Biovore**

Well feth. I don't recall seeing many movies of his, but I loved him in his role as Roland Tembo in Jurassic Park.

**Fifty**

Because, mattyrm, he brought pleasure into many of our lives, and will be unable to do so from now on.

**Ahtman**

mattyrm wrote:Decent actor, good in Sharpe.

But we care why now?

I can understand 14 year old girls getting upset about famous people popping their cloggs.. but come on MGS.. your a man... man!

Becuase we are all mortal and sympathetic toward others that go through what we do. At some point we all lose our mother/father/sibling/significant other or we are one of those things that someone else loses. He seemed like a good bloke, he entertained us, so we say goodbye.

**shingouki**

always liked pete and was saddened to hear of his death.r.i.p.

**Mannahnin**

mattyrm wrote:Decent actor, good in Sharpe.

But we care why now?

I can understand 14 year old girls getting upset about famous people popping their cloggs.. but come on MGS.. your a man... man!

As expressed above, it is normal to feel some grief and commemorate (even in a short sentence or two on an internet thread) the life and acts of a person who touched your life and/or the world in a positive way. Matty, we're not gossiping about his love life, so comparisons to teenage girls seem inappropriate. I'm going to assume that you're a couple of beers in.

Pete Postlethwaite was awesome. Anyone who enjoys movies should know he was awesome. In the Name of the Father, The Usual Suspects, Romeo + Juliet (he was awesome in that as Fr. Lawrence). The Man. +10. May his crossing over be smooth and he be accepted in joy among the ancestors and the honored dead.

Wiki wrote:After routine early appearances in small parts for television programmes such as The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In the Name of the Father in 1993. His performance as the mysterious lawyer "Kobayashi" in The Usual Suspects is also well-known, and he later made appearances in several successful films, including Alien 3, Amistad, Brassed Off, The Shipping News, The Constant Gardener, Inception and as Friar Lawrence in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.

In 2003, he was both the physical and vocal actor for the villain Deeth in Zixx: Level One, a Canadian TV series created by IDT Entertainment. The same year, he went to Australia, touring a 90-minute one-man play called Scaramouche Jones where he is a clown trying to find out why he is who he is before he dies at midnight.[3] Directed by Rupert Goold, who would also direct his Lear in 2008, Postlethwaite played every character. As well as Australia, the play toured Canada, New Zealand and Britain to great acclaim.[4]

In the 2004 book The Art of Discworld, Terry Pratchett said that he had always imagined Sam Vimes as 'a younger, slightly bulkier version of Pete Postlethwaite'.[5]

Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with the actor on the The Lost World: Jurassic Park,[6] to which Postlethwaite said: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, 'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'"[7]

One of his more notable roles was as antagonist Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill in ITV's Sharpe series, which starred Sean Bean. Postlethwaite has said that this was one of his favourite roles and that he and Sean played so well off each other because of their mutual love and respect for each other. Bernard Cornwell, the author and creator of the Sharpe series, specifically wrote Hakeswill's character in later novels to reflect Postletwaite's performance as the character in the TV series. Postlethwaite also co-starred with Sean Bean in When Saturday Comes.

Postlethwaite next starred in the Liverpool stage production of King Lear in 2008 at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and at the Young Vic, London. He appears in the climate change-themed film The Age of Stupid, premiered in March 2009. Having recently installed a wind turbine in his garden, he said was really impressed by the film.[8][9]

**Wolfstan**

A pants way for the New Year to start off. RIP sir. Ir wa a bit part part but he was great as the stressed police officer in Split Second

**mattyrm**

I'm always a couple of beers in...

**Albatross**

Um, yeah, I don't see it as 'un-manly' to be sad that an actor (or some other form of entertainer) who's work you enjoy, or who's achievements you admire, has died.

He was a great actor who as been in some great films, and if one feels that way, then it makes perfect sense to feel some sense of disappointment that he'll no longer be able to do it anymore.

Let's just nip this macho bollocks in the bud, eh?

**KingCracker**

Gah! Why does the OT have to bring me down as much as make me happy. That sucks, I really liked his work

**mattyrm**

It's not macho bollocks... I don't give a gak if people I never met and don't personally know died.

This could be a whole new thread in itself if you wish to discuss it further. Would MGS care if a Mexican actor died? Good actors die every day.

Good people die every day.

Nobody cates. Do we get a thread every time a soldier dies?

It's not macho bollocks. I genuinely find it purile.

**Emperors Faithful**

Well, bugger that. I remember watching him first as a kid in Dragonheart. As chaplaingrabthar said, definitely a "Hey it's THAT guy!" actor. I could never remember the name, but I always loved his acting.

**MeanGreenStompa**

mattyrm wrote:
This could be a whole new thread in itself if you wish to discuss it further. Would MGS care if a Mexican actor died? Good actors die every day.

And if I've enjoyed their work and think it's a shame I won't get to see any more of it, I'd pass that along to the OT as well. I did that when Leslie Nielson died and when Ian Richardson did. It's news that some of the rest of dakka might like to know.

mattyrm wrote:
Good people die every day.

And the 2011 enlightening statement of the year goes to...

mattyrm wrote:
Nobody cates. Do we get a thread every time a soldier dies?

Actually, as shown by the responses in this thread, some do care and some are interested to learn that news. It would depend on if they were a fan or appreciated that person's work. As to the soldiers, no we don't get a new thread because we have no line of reference to their individual work and so cannot relate to them on a personal level. I personally get fairly depressed reading the head count and have lost a friend in the current Afghanistan conflict, I mourn his passing but grieve far more for his wife and child. I do that because I had the line of reference of knowing that guy.

mattyrm wrote:
It's not macho bollocks. I genuinely find it purile.

So you've posted in this thread 3 times to state you cannot relate to someone showing respect to the passing of someone who's artistry they admired. Thanks for sharing and now perhaps leave the thread, we get your opinion and I can only surmise you have had the ability to show any form of emotion beasted out of you as a form of weakness. I just hope I'm very far away when you suffer a meltdown as a result of not being able to emote correctly. Or perhaps you just lock yourself away every so often and cry over pictures of kittens as you cut yourself in the thigh with scissors.

I was not getting all Princess Di about this, merely pointing out that someone who is well liked for his artistic works had passed away and that it seemed a shame. The explanation for that has already been put forward in better terms than I could explain by Ahtman and Mannahnin.

**WarOne**

I remember him from Dragonheart first and foremost.

Then the other movies he was in came to mind (Lost World: JP, Alien 3- though I remember him from there chiefly as the one whose character died in the chase scene).

Too bad. He was having a resurgence in his career on the screen again.

**filbert**

A real shame; as mentioned, he brought another dimension to the Hakeswill character.

I defy anyone to watch the TV series and then not see Pete's twitching face when they read the story.

**Albatross**

mattyrm wrote:It's not macho bollocks... I don't give a gak if people I never met and don't personally know died.

Right. So if one of your favourite authors died, you wouldn't be disappointed? Absolute rubbish. It's perfectly normal to be sad that you wouldn't get to read new stuff by them anymore. Same goes for musicians and actors.

The thing is, you know this, and you know I'm right. You just have this weird thing about looking 'soft'. Again, macho bollocks.

This could be a whole new thread in itself if you wish to discuss it further. Would MGS care if a Mexican actor died? Good actors die every day.

So fething what? If I haven't heard of them, and don't admire their work, why should I give a gak? How do you not get that?

**mattyrm**

They made another thread mate, lets take it there and leave poor old Pete in peace.

As i said, i liked the blokes films.

**Frazzled**

I particularly liked him as the priest in Romeo and Juliet for some reason.

Sounds like this was a blessing, a release from pain mayhaps.

**Mannahnin**

This is one of those threads where Fraz and I are on the same page. Yeah, Pete frickin' rocked as Fr. Lawrence; he, like all actors who really know what they're doing with Shakespeare, made the dialogue feel like something a person might really say, as well as something beautiful.

**Albatross**

mattyrm wrote:They made another thread mate, lets take it there and leave poor old Pete in peace.

As i said, i liked the blokes films.

Fair one!

BTW, you missed a corker at Jonesy's...

**Mike Noble**

I never knew he was Friar Lawrence, interesting. This guy was in some really good stuff.

**Kilkrazy**

mattyrm wrote:It's not macho bollocks... I don't give a gak if people I never met and don't personally know died.

This could be a whole new thread in itself if you wish to discuss it further. Would MGS care if a Mexican actor died? Good actors die every day.

Good people die every day.

Nobody cates. Do we get a thread every time a soldier dies?

It's not macho bollocks. I genuinely find it purile.

You wouldn't care if The Queen died? HERETIC!

**mattyrm**

Yes but I've met Prince Harry several times, so therefore have an emotional attachment to the family.

**Albatross**

Wait... you have an emotional attachment to a bloke you met a couple of times?

That's poofter-talk.