PETE POSTLETHWAITE . . . .

 

Always watchable from Brassed Off to Name of The Father, The Usual Suspects to Spielberg fantasies (Jurassic Park) I always found Pete scene steallingly brilliant

the post on Facebook reminds us what Speilberg said of him but did you know his view on smoking?

Director Steven Spielberg said that, for the character of Roland Tembo in "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997), an actor of tremendous presence was required, as the character was to portray the myth of the "Great White Hunter," leading to the casting of Pete Postlethwaite,after Spielberg saw his performance in the 1993 film "In the Name of the Father."

When filming the scene where Roland and his friend, Ajay find the infant Tyrannosaurus rex nest, Postlethwaite was initially confused as to why he and fellow actor Harvey Jason were directed to wave their hands in front of their faces, to which Spielberg explained that Industrial Light and Magic would be adding computer generated flies to the scene in post-production. After the film, Spielberg was quoted as calling Pete "the best actor in the world." Roger Ebert noted in his review that Postlethwaite was the only cast member who "seem[ed] convinced that he [was] on an island with dinosaurs, and not merely in a special-effects movie about them." As such, everybody roots for him.

Early in his career, Postlethwaite (pronounced "POSS-ul-thwait") was advised to adopt a new surname for his acting work by his first agent and by peers who quipped that his name "would never be put up in lights outside theatres because they couldn't afford the electricity". Postlethwaite rejected the advice: "It's who I am. It's my mother and father, my whole family. It's where everything I am comes from. I couldn't imagine living my life with another name."

Postlethwaite started smoking when he was ten. He continued to smoke heavily until his death, despite admitting it was his "biggest regret". "We've got to hope the next generation will do things differently. I'm sure that in 20 years' time the kids will say, 'Can you believe that people actually used to smoke - put these funny little things in their mouths, lit them and sucked all that crap into their lungs?'"

Pete died 2 January 2011 (age only 64 years) having suffered two bouts of cancer

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