The great Tom Wilkinson has passed on. He was 75. A big loss for film, as he was one hell of a great actor. He had such presence on-screen and truly one of the great character actors of his time.
There just wasn’t enough love for this actor. For the longest time, I didn't even know his original accent. That's how versatile he was. He’d just hop from genre to genre and had the range to pull off just about anything — he was even great as Carmine Falcone in “Batman Begins.”
I was actually surprised to learn, via Google search, that no media has really covered his best performances, which is quite unusual considering the top notch body of work he’s assembled in his five decades as a screen actor.
His work in “Michael Clayton” and “In the Bedroom” would most certainly be tops on my list, and he justly got Oscar nominated for both. He won the Golden Globe and Emmy for his scene-stealing turn as Benjamin Franklin in HBO’s “John Adams.”
Maybe his finest moment as an actor was his monologue, as Arthur, in “Michael Clayton” — “I am Shiva, the God of Death” — my goodness, Tom Wilkinson burns it down in this film.
His breakthrough role was as Gerald in “The Full Monty,” which won him the BAFTA. He was also memorable in “The Girl with the Pearl Earring”, “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Patriot.” And there are plenty of others. He was just a colossal actor.