Actor Pete Postlethwaite died

Oscar nominated British actor Pete Postlethwaite died of cancer on Sunday at age 64.  I had seen him recently in The Town where he played a tough Boston mob boss.  I remember him most from his Oscar nominated role as Daniel Day-Lewis' father in In the Name of the Father in 1993.  Recently, he was in Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio but I haven't seen that one yet.  I hope to see it soon.

Here are the reactions of Day-Lewis and Ben Affleck (who directed him in The Town):

Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Postlethwaite’s son in 1993′s In the Name of the Father (for which they both earned Oscar nominations), and co-starred with him in 1992′s The Last of the Mohicans: ”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, irreverent. 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. He shouldn’t have gone. I wish so much that he hadn’t. There’s a tendency to make lists at this time of the year. When we get to the Best of British, if Pete isn’t at the top of that list, he shouldn’t be far from it.”

Ben Affleck, who co-starred with and directed Postlethwaite in last fall’s The Town: “Pete was a wonderful actor and an extraordinary man. I will miss him as will the countless others whose lives he touched either personally or through his work. This is a great loss of a wonderful man. My prayers go out to his family.”

It's sad when anyone dies but it's especially hard at the age of 64.  He sounds like a great guy.