Actor Pete Postlethwaite dies: Your memories

Pete Postlethwaite originally planned to be a priest

Oscar-nominated British actor Pete Postlethwaite has died at the age of 64, a spokesman has announced.

Journalist and friend Andrew Richardson said the actor, who was appointed OBE in 2004, died peacefully in hospital in Shropshire after a lengthy illness.

In 1994, he was nominated for an Oscar for In The Name of the Father.

Actor Bill Nighy, who performed with Postlethwaite at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre in the 1970s, paid tribute to "a rare and remarkable man".

"I was honoured by his friendship - he is irreplaceable," Nighy added.

Postlethwaite was made an OBE in 2004

Broadcaster Stephen Fry, meanwhile, wrote on Twitter: "The loss of the great Pete Postlethwaite is a very sad way to begin a year."

Actor Simon Pegg said on Twitter that Postlethwaite was "one of our finest actors", adding that he "first saw him at the RSC in 1986 - owned the stage he did".

And former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, also writing on Twitter, said the actor's films Brassed Off and Age of Stupid "had a real effect on me and our government".

Lord Prescott has credited 1996 film Brassed Off - about the struggles faced by a colliery brass band after the closure of their pit - as the inspiration for a Labour regeneration programme for coalfield communities.

King Lear

Postlethwaite's friend Mr Richardson said the actor, who also starred in films including The Usual Suspects and Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, had carried on working in recent months despite receiving treatment for cancer.