Actor Pete Postlethwaite Dies at 64

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Pete Postlethwaite

Stefan Wermuth/Files/Reuters

Europe’s film community is reeling at the beginning of 2011 from what is believed to be two significant deaths.

Britain’s Pete Postlethwaite died Sunday at the age of 64 after a lengthy illness. He had been receiving treatment for cancer. The Oscar-nominated Postlethwaite was a character actor par excellence, and will long be remembered for his award-worthy turn for In The Name of the Father in 1994 as well as stealing every scene he appeared in when it came to The Usual Suspects, Brassed Off, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet and The Lost World: Jurassic Park for which director Steven Spielberg heralded him as “the best actor in the world.” Showing the modesty for which he was famed (and loved), Postlethwaite brushed off the remark, saying, “I’m sure what Spielberg actually said was, ‘The thing about Pete is that he thinks he’s the best actor in the world.'”

(See Steven Spielberg in TIME’s Hollywood covers.)

Tributes have poured in, with fellow Brit Bill Nighy (who performed with Postlethwaite at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre in the 1970’s), paying tribute to “a rare and remarkable man,” deeming him “irreplaceable.” Stephen Fry wrote on Twitter that, “the loss of the great Pete Postlethwaite is a very sad way to begin a year.” His last major role was in Inception and it would be fitting to hear Postlethwaite praised by his fellow cast and crew come next month’s Oscars if the movie picks up any awards though, of course, no ceremony is needed to remember the life and times of the great man.

(See TIME’s review of Inception.)

And Sweden is mourning the probable passing of veteran actor Per Oscarsson, who is feared to have died in a fire at his home. The human remains found were either those of the actor or his wife, Kia Ostling, said a police spokesman. Both were reported missing by relatives, who said they were at home when the building burned down. The cause of the fire is unknown. The spokesman could not say when the identification of the remains would be completed but confirmed they were still searching for the remains of a second person.

The 83-year-old appeared in over 100 films and TV series, with his finest moment arguably coming at the 1966 Cannes film festival where he won best actor for his depiction of the starving writer Pontus in Hunger. But he had recently become known to a new generation by playing the part of Holmer Palmgren, the former legal guardian of a certain Lisbeth Salander in the adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy. Both Postlethwaite and Oscarsson had that uncanny knack of appealing to film fans of all ages and, as is so often remarked, we won’t see their like again. (via BBC and The Guardian)