British actor Tom Wilkinson died on Saturday at the age of 75 in London, United Kingdom. Wilkinson had a long career, primarily in cinema and television, although he had also worked in the theater: he had received numerous awards and recognitions, including a BAFTA, the film and television award given each year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. His best-known appearances include the now unemployed former steel mill foreman Gerald Arthur Cooper in “The Full Monty” (1997) by British director Peter Cattaneo and the lawyer Arthur Edens in the thriller “Michael Clayton” (2007) by American director Tony Gilroy.
Wilkinson was born on February 5, 1948 in Leeds, United Kingdom. He moved with his family to Canada, where he lived for five years, and then returned to the UK to Cornwall, where his parents had opened a pub. He studied English and American literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury and began acting during his studies before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he graduated in 1973. He made his debut with a role in a thriller Smuga cienia (1976) by the Polish director Andrzej Wajd, which, however, became widely known in the 1990s.