Renowned British actor Tom Wilkinson, known for his roles in award-winning films like “In the Bedroom” and “Michael Clayton,” has died at the age of 75.
Gatekeepers News reports that the rwo-time Oscar-nominated actor’s death was confirmed in a statement released by his agent on behalf of his family.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30. His wife and family were with him.”
Wilkinson’s versatile career spanned over 130 film and TV credits, and he earned critical acclaim for his role in the iconic “The Full Monty.”
He most recently reunited with his “Full Monty” co-stars Robert Carlyle and Mark Addy in a Disney+ series of the same name.
The original 1997 smash hit about an unlikely group of men stripping won an Oscar for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score and was nominated in three other categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Wilkinson, who was born in Leeds to a family of farmers, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and racked up more than 130 film and TV credits, including “Batman Begins”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Shakespeare in Love”.
While working on the British mini-series “First Among Equals” in 1986, he met actress Diana Hardcastle, whom he married in 1988. The couple had two daughters.
Wilkinson won a 2009 Golden Globe and 2008 Emmy for his role as American political figure Benjamin Franklin in the HBO series “John Adams”, playing opposite Paul Giamatti.
Among his numerous accolades was an Academy Award nomination for “In the Bedroom” in 2001, and another for a supporting role in “Michael Clayton” in 2007.
Wilkinson played Gerald Cooper, an ex-foreman who was recruited to help the unemployed men dance.
The actor also took home a Best Supporting Actor Bafta for the role.
A noted character actor, he also netted roles in a BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel “Martin Chuzzlewit”; the 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”; the 2014 Wes Anderson comedy-drama “The Grand Budapest Hotel”; and the 2011 ensemble comedy “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”.
In 2005, Wilkinson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama.
