The In the Name of the Father Oscar nominee was 64

Pete Postlethwaite died in a in Shropshire, England, hospital Sunday after a lengthy fight with cancer. The actor was 64.

An Oscar nominee for his role as the father of Daniel Day-Lewis’s character in the 1993 In the Name of the Father, the distinctive-looking Postlethwaite also played the menacing owner of a flower shop in last year’s The Town, directed by and starring Ben Affleck. In Inception, he was the rich, dying patriarch (his son was played by Cillian Murphy).

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Steven Spielberg, who directed Postlewaite in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad, once called him “the best actor in the world.” In response, Postlethwaite – who originally wanted to be a priest – quipped, “I’m sure what Spielberg actually said was, ‘the thing about Pete is that he thinks he’s the best actor in the world.’ ”

A political activist, Postlethwaite protested the war in Iraq, supported the Make Poverty History campaign and starred in a 2009 film about global warming, The Age of Stupid, reports Britain’s Independent.