Although I never got to see Postlethwaite on the stage, I can testify that he was one of the best and most powerful actors on the big screen. He was so good that I would watch a movie just because he was in it, and even if the movie wasn't superb, his performance always was. Steven Spielberg simply called him "the best actor in the world."
Daniel Day-Lewis, his co-star of In The Name Of The Father, said, "Pos was the one. As students it was him we went to see on stage time and time again. It was him we wanted to be like; wild and true; lion hearted; unselfconscious and deliciously irreverant. He was on our side. He watched out for us. We loved him and followed him like happy children, never a breath away from laughter."
Kevin Spacey, who starred with Postlethwaite in The Usual Suspects, agreed saying, "No one was like Pete. He was a great man of the theater as well and carved a unique life for himself in film. He probably wasn't appreciated as much as he should have been, but I suspect that the country will come to regard him as a national treasure. For the rest of the world he was a guy we could all understand, empathize with and be frightened by. We will all treasure his performances and remember him with fondness and enormous admiration."
Postlethwaite was an actor's actor, respected throughout the profession. In 2003, he was given the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth -- one of the highest honors that can be given a British civilian.
Losing an actor of the stature of Pete Postlethwaite is a sad way to begin a new year. He will be missed by film lovers all over the world. He was one of the great ones.
I know I've seen him in other movies but I'll always remember him in "The Usual Suspects."
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