LONDON — He could have stayed in teaching. That’s what his parents wanted. It was the safe, secure route for a young man with working-class roots and a face few would describe as handsome.
But Pete Postlethwaite wanted more. He wanted to pursue his passion for acting, and, at 24, he left teaching to train at the Bristol Old Vic theater. His parents remained skeptical, but when he was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II after a stellar 1980s performance with the Royal Shakespeare Company, even his mother was convinced he would make his mark.
It was an incredible ascent for Postlethwaite, a distinguished character actor with a remarkably craggy, timeworn face whose death at age 64 was confirmed Monday by Andrew Richardson, a longtime friend and journalist who documented the actor’s fight against cancer. Richardson said he died Sunday.
Postlethwaite had little going for him when he started in an industry where good looks are valued. He had few connections and a name that was hard to pronounce, and he could distinguish himself only by his talent.
It was a subtle talent, hard to define, marked by an ability to completely inhabit a role, to convey a deep sense of burden with a glance or a shrug. Nothing was overstated. But he had a powerful presence and authenticity on screen and stage.
It was this that prompted director Steven Spielberg, who used Postlethwaite twice (“The Lost World: Jurassic Park” and “Amistad”) to call him “probably the best actor in the world.” Postlethwaite’s role in “In the Name of the Father” in 1993 earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. He was recently seen in “Inception” and will be seen this year in “Killing Bono.”
