Postlethwaite, who last year appeared in the movies Inception and The Town, was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Guiseppe Conlon in the 1993 film In The Name Of The Father, in which he starred alongside Daniel Day-Lewis. His other films included The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Shipping News, Romeo & Juliet, The Last of the Mohicans, Amistad and The Usual Suspects, where he played the criminal mastermind Kobayashi.
Postlethwaite received the Order of the British Empire in 2004.
