In Memoriam: Tom Wilkinson

Tom Wilkinson, best known in America for the 1997 hit The Full Monty and the Oscarbait film, Michael Clayton, passed away just before the turn of 2024. The actor started out the son of a family from a relatively modest background in Leeds; the Wilkinson family moved to Canada (possibly where young Tom developed his ear for transatlantic accents), and then returned to Cornwall. When his parents separated, Wilkinson’s mother moved the family back to Yorkshire, and after university, where he studied British and American literature, Wilkinson trained at RADA. 

“I see myself as a utility player, the one who can do everything. I’ve always felt that actors should have a degree of anonymity about them.” - Tom Wilkinson

After successfully auditioning for the Nottingham Playhouse, Wilkinson made the transition from regional to national theater with a place at the Royal Shakespeare Company, which for him was a disaster. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he did very little stage work and developed his film presence relatively late in life, starting with a small role in In the Name of the Father in 1993 and then slightly bigger parts in Sense & Sensibility and Ghost and the Darkness. His breakthrough came in 1997’s The Full Monty, for which he won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor, a role he reprised in 2023 in the recent Disney+ sequel. 

Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian, "Wilkinson has long been the gold standard of acting technique on the cinema screen, all the more valuable for his unshowy reticence. For as long I’ve been writing about movies, his presence on any cast list has been enough to make you sit up and pay that little bit more attention because you knew that he was going to bring to that film a touch of class, of wit, of style, of pathos, and often a very English decency. His complexity and intelligence were unmatched."

But his range in both serious and comedic roles was astounding, and we’ll take a look at some of his best work. 

The Full Monty was a surprise hit when it crossed the pond in the mid-1990s. The beloved 1997 comedy (let’s not go into the Disney+ sequel) starred Wilkinson as Gerald Arthur Cooper, a victim of Sheffield’s lost steel industry, a former manager who is desperate to find work again. He and his wife both aspire to a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, but she doesn’t know he’s out of work. When the bailiffs come to repossess their furniture, it’s a rude shock for her. But Gerald, with his ballroom dance experience, becomes the choreographer for the aspiring strippers and is by far the most accomplished dancer. 

More importantly, he finds friendship and community with Baz (Robert Carlisle) and the rest of the lads. He was awarded a BAFTA for the role.

The Full Monty film is available as a streaming rental on Amazon.

George Clooney, in the title role of the 2007 film Michael Clayton, plays a fixer for an unscrupulous law firm whose major client is a chemical company that produces dangerous agricultural products (think Round-Up). It’s Clayton’s job to clean up the company’s reputation, but he’s beginning to have doubts about what he’s doing. In addition, he’s deeply in debt from gambling. His colleague, lawyer Arthur Eden (Wilkinson), suffers from bipolar disorder and stops taking his medication, with the potential of undoing both his own well-being and Clayton’s fragile financial survival. 

Wilkinson tackles the role of a person with bipolar disorder with grace and skill. The movie was written and created by Tony Gilroy (who went on to write the Bourne series).

Michael Clayton is streaming on Paramount+/Showtime.

Critically lauded at the time for moving comic book movies from kid's stuff to elevated film noir fare, Batman Begins was the gold standard in comic book movies until Marvel's The Avengers changed how the films were made. Part of that was the stellar cast. Young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) meets with menacing mob boss/drug dealer Carmine Falcone (Wilkinson). Bruce, having studied martial arts with Henri Lucard (Liam Neeson) in the Far East, has returned to Gotham City to seek vengeance for his murdered parents. 

But Lucard is a member of the mysterious League of Shadows, which plans the destruction of Gotham City. Bruce’s goal is to clean up the city without killing anyone, with the assistance of  Alfred (Michael Caine), his loyal butler, and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a tech expert at Wayne Enterprises. 

Batman Begins is streaming on Max.

Famous for its 1999 Oscar upsets, Shakespeare in Love is also a hilarious film, thanks in no small part to Wilkinson: “I’m the money!” The players gather at the theater for the first rehearsal of the comedy Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter –athe name of the play changes frequently – with Ben Affleck upstaging everyone as actor Ned Alleyn. (Sorry, Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, but we know it's true.) 

Moneylender Hugh Fennyman (Wilkinson), an unscrupulous villain who threatened to burn off Philip Henslowe’s feet (Geoffrey Rush) at the beginning of the movie, is a newcomer to the world of theater. It’s the start of Fennyman’s journey in which he falls in love with the theater and acting.

Shakespeare in Love is streaming on Max.

Denial features Barristers Richard Rampton (Wilkinson) and Anthony Julius (Andrew Scott) as the legal team representing Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz), an American academic who taught Jewish history at Emory University in Atlanta. After she accused Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer David Irving (Timothy Spall) of publishing false information, he sued her for libel in the UK court system. 

The screenplay, by Deborah Lipstadt and David Hare, is based on Lipstadt’s book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier, and the movie is directed by Mick Jackson.

Denial is streaming on Max.

HBO’s John Adams series, based on David McCullough’s book, was directed by Tom Hooper and written by Michelle Ashford and Kirk Ellis. With Paul Giamatti in the title role, the series sports a superb cast that includes Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams. Wilkinson is a delight as Ben Franklin, who, with Adams and Jefferson in this scene, composes the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.

John Adams is streaming on Max.

Based on Andre Dubus’ story Killings, Rob Festinger and Todd Field wrote In the Bedroom, with Field directing this story of class, love, and grief. Matt Fowler (Wilkinson) is a doctor in a small town in Maine, married to Ruth (Sissy Spacek), the local school's choir leader. Their son, Frank (Nick Stahl), home from his first year of college, is having a fling with a local woman, Natalie (Marisa Tomei), who isn't quite divorced yet from her husband, Richard Strout (William Mapother), the owner of the local cannery. 

Richard murders Frank, and when Matt realizes that Richard may get away with the crime, he starts a cycle of violence and revenge.

In the Bedroom is available as a streaming rental via Amazon.

Directed by Robert Redford and written by James D. Solomon, and Gregory Bernstein, The Conspirator is set in Washington, DC, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), who owned the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and the other conspirators stayed, was the only woman to be arrested for the conspiracy and murder of the President. Maryland Senator Reverdy Johnson (Wilkinson) hands the case over to rookie lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), who becomes aware that Mary’s testimony is of interest only to find the whereabouts of her son, the only conspirator still at large. 

In this clip, Johnson points out that she is entitled to a civilian trial and the military tribunal is unconstitutional.

The Conspirator is streaming on Roku.

Valkyrie is one of those films based on a true story that's stranger than fiction. The Valkyrie plan was hatched by high-ranking Nazi officers in 1944 to murder Hitler and take control of Germany under the terms of the Valkyrie Escape Plan. Directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie, the movie is a vehicle for Tom Cruise with a talented supporting cast. 

Wilkinson is General Friedrich Fromm, who cynically pays lip service to the ideals of the group while planning his getaway if it fails. Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Suzy Eddie Izzard, and Terence Stamp also star.

Valkyrie is streaming on Tubi.

Directed by Amma Asante and written by Misan Sagay, the 2014 movie Belle is based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the mixed-race great-niece adopted by Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson) and Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson). A high-ranking judge, known for his otherwise conservative views, Mansfield ruled on significant cases that changed public opinion and legislation on slavery and the slave trade in the mid-18th century. 

Belle is streaming on Max.