R.I.P. Tom Wilkinson, from The Full Monty and In The Bedroom

Tom Wilkinson has died. A veteran actor of both stage and screen, Wilkinson might be best remembered for his co-starring role in 1997's The Full Monty, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the BAFTAs. Other professional recognition included a pair of Oscar noms—for In The Bedroom in 2001 and Michael Clayton in 2007, and an Emmy win in 2008. Although his acting resumé was light on lead roles, it was absolutely stuffed with memorable character parts, and Wilkinson ultimately racked up more than 150 credits across TV and film. (Which doesn’t even get into his extensive stage work.) Per the BBC, Wilkinson’s death was announced by his family on Saturday. He was 75.

Born in the U.K. in 1948, Wilkinson spent part of his childhood in Canada before returning to England and pursuing acting. He got his start mainly in British TV, and on the stage, appearing in TV movies like Agatha Christie adaptation A Pocket Full Of Rye and the miniseries First Among Equals, a series Wilkinson later dubbed, in typically honest manner, “not very good”— even though it’s where he met Diana Hardcastle, his wife of 35 years.

Feeling a mild urge to, in his own words, “sit down with the big boys,” Wilkinson began to pursue films more regularly in the 1990s. Early roles included parts in Pride And Prejudice, The Ghost And The Darkness, and Antonia Bird’s Priest. But he rose to his first real stabs at international cinematic prominence with 1997's The Full Monty, playing factory foreman-turned-male dancer Gerald. The film was a surprise hit in the U.S., and Wilkinson—who reprised the role for the 2023 TV sequel—came in for especial praise for his work, cutting his slightly austere, even dour presence with a gift for projecting joy.

From there, Wilkinson worked mostly in film, including a starring role opposite Sissy Spacek in In The Bedroom, directed by Todd Field. The film was a resounding success in both the commercial and critical senses, with both Spacek and Wilkinson drawing rave reviews for their portrayal of a long-time married couple struggling with grief over the death of their murdered son. The film elevated Wilkinson’s profile massively, to the point that he made at least two movies a year every year from then until 2018; and if those parts were sometimes on the small side, they were inevitably some of the most memorable in the film: A cackling, mocking gangster in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins; an ethically compromised doctor in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind; the enigmatic “Author” of Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel. (Not to be confused with The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which Wilkinson also co-starred in.)

Besides his obvious talents for hopping across the Atlantic as needed, Wilkinson also had an incredible ability to project both warmth and malice in his screen roles, playing both into and against his unassuming profile. (In rare interviews, he comes off as almost pathologically down-to-earth, voicing sincere and obvious disinterest in the game of Hollywood fame, and mostly bemoaning the fact that press duties were cutting in to his time re-watching old episodes of Friends.) He leveraged that talent for world-weary wisdom mixed with cutting wit to massive effect in projects like HBO’s John Adams, where his turn as Benjamin Franklin won him an Emmy (and some irritating moments fielding “pity questions” from the American press) as well as Michael Clayton, where he starred opposite (and consistently stole the scene from) George Clooney.

Wilkinson’s family issued a statement about his death today, writing that, “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.”