“It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announces that he passed away suddenly at his home on December 30. His wife and family were by his side”, declared his agent on behalf of his family, Saturday December 30. The actor of the film The Full Monty was 75 years old, reports theAgence France-Presse (AFP).
In the hit 1997 film, Tom Wilkinson played Gerald Cooper, a former foreman recruited to help unemployed workers dance. The work won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for a Musical or Comedy and was nominated in three other categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. Here is the trailer from the time (unsubtitled).
“Titan”, “elegance”
The actor also received a Bafta for best supporting role for his performance. He had recently reunited with Robert Carlyle and Mark Addy, two actors also starring in The Full Monty, in a Disney+ series of the same name.
Robert Carlyle paid tribute to him, calling him “a true titan of an actor, one of the greatest not only of his generation, but of all generations.” American actor George Clooney, who starred alongside Tom Wilkinson in Michael Claytondeclared to Variety : “Tom made every project better. He made every actor better. He was the epitome of elegance and we will all miss him.”
Tom Wilkinson, who was born in Leeds into a farming family, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has amassed more than 130 films and television series, including Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind And Shakespeare in Love.