Oscar-nominated British actor Pete Postlethwaite has died at the age of 64, a spokesman has announced.
Journalist and friend Andrew Richardson said Postlethwaite, who was made an 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.
He received a best supporting actor nod for his role as Giuseppe Conlon, who was falsely convicted of the IRA's Guildford pub bombings.
Mr Richardson said the actor, who also starred in films including The Usual Suspects and Brassed Off, had carried on working in recent months despite receiving treatment for cancer.
Postlethwaite, who was born in Warrington, Cheshire, began his career at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre where he worked with future stars including Bill Nighy, Julie Walters and Alan Bleasdale.
He returned to the Everyman in 2008 to play the lead in King Lear, a role he had always wanted to take on.
He starred alongside his friend Daniel Day-Lewis in In The Name of the Father, about the wrongful convictions of the Guildford Four.
The pair had previously worked together in repertory theatre during the 1970s.
Postlethwaite was once described by director Steven Spielberg, whom he worked with in films including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as "the best actor in the world".
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