"It's all in the cheekbones, this career of mine," British actor Pete Postlethwaite once said. Those cheekbones proved versatile, belonging to innocent and sinister characters alike. Among his films were In the Name of the Father (for which he received an Oscar nod), Brassed Off and The Usual Suspects. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Postlethwaite, who died Jan. 2 at 64, appeared in last year's hits Inception and The Town.
This text originally appeared in the Jan. 17, 2011 issue of TIME magazine.