Tom Wilkinson, actor in ‘The Full Monty’, dies at 75

Tom Wilkinson, the actor who could become a manic lawyer, a steel foreman turned stripper who delivered small and large parts in mesmerizing turns, winning Oscar nominations and praise for his performances in films such as ‘Michael Clayton’ and ‘The Full Monty’, died on Saturday, according to The Associated Press. He was 75.

The AP quoted a statement from his agent on behalf of his family, stating that he died suddenly at home. It did not provide any other details.

Mr Wilkinson’s reach seemed to know no bounds.

He earned Academy Award nominations for his work in “In the Bedroom” and “Michael Clayton” and delighted audiences in comedies such as “The Fully Monty” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”

He appeared in blockbusters like “Shakespeare in Love” and “Batman Begins,” and got into horror in “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” history as Benjamin Franklin in “John Adams” and memory in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” ”

He often didn’t have the name recognition or sheer star power of the actors he played opposite, including George Clooney, Sissy Spacek and Ben Affleck. But he captured the public’s attention and the acclaim of critics through decades of work in television, film and on stage.

“I see myself as a utility player, the one who can do everything,” he told The New York Times in 2002. “I’ve always felt that actors should have a certain degree of anonymity about them.”

For many Brits, however, “The Full Monty” remains his most beloved performance, as one of the surly, unemployed steelworkers in Sheffield, England, who scheme to make some money and restore their self-respect by starting a striptease act for the village.

Mr. Wilkinson played Gerald Cooper, an aging ex-foreman who joins the cadre in part to escape the ornamental gnomes his wife has placed on the lawn.

But his reach extended far beyond comedy, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in “In the Bedroom,” directed by Todd Field.

Opposite Ms. Spacek, Mr. Wilkinson played one half of a Maine couple struggling in the aftermath of their son’s murder. Mr Field said he was attracted to Mr Wilkinson because of his everyday quality.

“You don’t normally think of Robert Redford moving next door,” Mr Field told The Times. ‘But you believe Tom Wilkinson could live next door. That is the difference.”

A few years later, Mr. Wilkinson was again praised as a high-powered lawyer who has a breakdown in Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton.” He was nominated for another Academy Award for his performance in that film.

By then, Mr. Wilkinson had been acting in theater, television and film for three decades.

Born in Yorkshire, England, his parents moved to Canada when he was four, looking for better work than farming. Their stay lasted only six years, during which time his father worked as an aluminum smelter. The family returned to Britain, where Mr Wilkinson’s parents ran a pub in Cornwall until his father died, drawing Mr Wilkinson and his mother back to Yorkshire.

Information about his survivors was not immediately available.

Mr Wilkinson said his life took a sharp turn at the age of 16, at King James’s Grammar School in Knaresborough, where the headmistresses “simply decided she would make something of me.”

This, he said, “meant that she was invited into her home, taught how to eat and which knives and forks to get first.”

“We went to the theater together,” he said. “After wandering aimlessly around school, someone suddenly took an interest in me.”

But he wasn’t drawn to acting until he reached the University of Canterbury in 1967, he said. After college, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he discovered it was possible for “provincial working-class kids” to open art galleries, run rock bands, become designers and actors.

“All the things that weren’t cool became cool,” he said. “I saw the young, provincial bohemian and thought: that role could be mine. I’m going to be in the arts. You can make a life in art. Why not?”