Family came first for Pete Postlethwaite

Family life and a home in Shropshire were at the centre of actor Pete Postlethwaite's life,

You'd have thought the biggest love of Pete Postlethwaite's life would have been acting. After all, the Oscar-nominated star trod the boards for 40 years and made great personal sacrifice to pursue his dream of a life on stage and screen.

The greatest love of Pete's life wasn't acting, however, it was his family: his inspirational wife, Jacqui, his charming son, Will and his adorable daughter, Lily. They were what mattered to him above all.

During an extraordinary career in which he established himself as one of the world's greatest character actors, Pete had countless opportunities to cash in on his reputation and earn vast sums. That he choose not to said everything about the man. "It's always been a myth that I'm some secret millionaire. I choose work that I believed in, rather than work that paid particularly well."

To him, luxury was not a chauffeur-driven limo and money in the bank; he didn't care much for either. His idea of luxury was being able to appear in an earthy Shakespeare play on the stage of a provincial British theatre.

Acting was, of course, a dominant theme in his life. He felt his first pang of thespian ambition while still an altar boy in his native Warrington, when he became acutely aware that all eyes in the church were on him.

He grew up as the youngest of four children amid a loving Catholic family and at primary school, in seminary and at grammar school, he became involved in amateur productions.

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"When I was a teenager, studying A levels, I used to go into Liverpool to watch plays at The Everyman Theatre. I knew then that I wanted to act. I didn't know how, of course, because I always imagined that working class, Catholic boys like me were supposed to work in offices. That's why I became a teacher, at first. But eventually, I realised I had to pursue drama."

Pete trained at the Old Vic Theatre School, in Bristol, before becoming part of an illustrious company at The Everyman, in Liverpool, in the early 1970s, alongside Bill Nighy, Julie Walters, Matthew Kelly, George Costigan, Anthony Sher, Alison Steadman, the writer Alan Bleasdale and the director Alan Dosser.

Recently, he remembered: "Those were remarkable times. You wouldn't get those people in the same room, or even the same country these days. But back then, we were writing our own rules. Anything was possible."

He spent the best part of 20 years in repertory theatre, appearing principally in Liverpool, Bristol and London's West End, as well as at Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was a respected member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Following one performance, he was introduced to HM Queen Elizabeth II. He remembered: "Until that point, my mother had always imagined acting was a phase, even though I'd been doing it for around 15 years. But when I met the Queen, she finally accepted that I was serious."

His transition to TV and film had begun during the early 1980s and he was part of Terence Davies' ground-breaking movie Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. That film established his cinematic reputation.

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A year earlier, he had met his wife-to-be, Jacqui, and knew instantly that he would spend the rest of his life with her, which he did.

During the 1990s, Pete became one of the biggest movie stars in the business. In The Name of the Father earned him an Oscar nomination and he relished his role as the band leader Danny in Brassed Off because of its political message.

He appeared in a string of hits including The Usual Suspects, When Saturday Comes, Dragonheart, James and the Giant Peach and Romeo and Juliet. Steven Spielberg described him as being the 'best actor in the world' and the two became good friends.

He starred in the director's hugely-successful The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

But just as his world started to take off, with directors offering absurd sums , he decided to slow the pace.

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(Warning: This clip contains some bad language)

He had become a father to Will and Lily and wanted to spend more time with them and Jacqui at their home in Minton, near Church Stretton. "I made a conscious decision to be at home more."

He also became an important cog in the local community, raising money for new seating at Church Stretton School, which had helped to foster his son, Will's acting ambition, supporting Ludlow Assembly Rooms and becoming involved in numerous other local causes and events.

"I do love Shropshire," he often said. "Whenever I get home, my shoulders drop by two inches. The only reason I've been able to do the things I've done is because I have my family and Shropshire to come home to. They've made everything else possible."

Thoughout the noughties he continued to work on films including The Shipping News, The Constant Gardener, Closing The Ring, Soloman Kane and the 2009 environmental film The Age Of Stupid. The latter was close to his heart because of his belief that people should live more sustainable lives.

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"My wife, Jacqui, was always the driving force in our house. We'd insulated, installed a wood-fired heating system and put up a wind turbine. We did what we could and hoped others might follow."

In 2004 he received an OBE and in 2008, he realised his greatest ambition when he returned to The Everyman to star in King Lear during Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.

It was the role he had always yearned for. But he also became unwell and fought a long battle with cancer. He did so privately, with no fanfare, and was ever grateful for the care of local doctors and nurses.

Inevitably, his final days were at home, among his adored family. For they, rather than acting, were at the centre of his world. They, rather than stage or screen, were the true love of his life.