John Hurt
CBE | |
---|---|
Born | John Vincent Hurt 22 January 1940 Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England |
Died | 25 January 2017 , Norfolk, England | (aged 77)
Education |
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Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1961–2017 |
Works | List of performances |
Spouses |
|
Partners |
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Children | 2 |
Sir John Vincent Hurt
A graduate of
Hurt gained further prominence portraying
Hurt reprised his role as Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York (2009), which brought his seventh BAFTA nomination. He portrayed an incarnation of the Doctor known as the War Doctor in Doctor Who.[7][8] He voiced roles in Watership Down (1978), The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Plague Dogs (1982), The Black Cauldron (1985), Dogville (2003), Valiant (2005) and BBC's Merlin (2008–2012), as well as The Gruffalo's Child (2011), and Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure (2015).
Early life and education
John Vincent Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, in
At the age of eight, Hurt was sent to the Anglican
Hurt's father moved to St Aidan's Church in
Career
1962–1975
Hurt's first film role was as Phil Corbett in the Ralph Thomas directed British romantic drama The Wild and the Willing (1962). Hurt starred alongside Virginia Maskell and Paul Rogers. In 1963 he acted in the Kitchen sink drama This Is My Street. The following year he appeared in the television series Gideon's Way episode: The Tin God (1964) as prison escapee Freddy Tisdale.
Hurt's first major role was as Richard Rich in the Fred Zinnemann directed historical drama film A Man for All Seasons (1966).[20] Hurt acted alongside Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Orson Welles, Robert Shaw, Susannah York, and Vanessa Redgrave. The film received critical acclaim and six Academy Awards including for Best Picture. Hurt then acted in the British romantic drama The Sailor from Gibraltar starring Jeanne Moreau directed by Tony Richardson. He then starred in John Huston's raunchy adventure comedy Sinful Davey (1969) which critics compared to the film Tom Jones. That same year he acted in the British war film Before Winter Comes opposite David Niven and the drama In Search of Gregory alongside Julie Christie.
He then played
1976–1980
He won further acclaim for his bravura performance as the Roman emperor Caligula in the BBC drama serial I, Claudius (1976). In a much later documentary about the series, I Claudius: A Television Epic (2002), Hurt revealed that he had originally declined the role when it was first offered to him, but that series director Herbert Wise had invited him to a special pre-production party, hoping Hurt would change his mind, and that he was so impressed by meeting the rest of the cast and crew that he reversed his decision and took the role.[21]
Hurt appeared in the 1978 film
His other roles in the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s included
That same year he starred in
1981–1999
Hurt also had a starring role in
Hurt voiced Snitter in
He had a supporting role as "Bird" O'Donnell in Jim Sheridan's film The Field (1990), which garnered him another BAFTA nomination. In this film Hurt starred alongside Richard Harris who earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In King Ralph (1991) Hurt played Lord Percival Graves. Hurt portrayed James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose in the historical drama Rob Roy opposite Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange and Tim Roth. That same year he acted in the Jim Jarmusch directed western Dead Man starring Johnny Depp, and Walter Hill's western Wild Bill (1995) with Jeff Bridges.
In 1997 he starred in Richard Kwietniowski's Love and Death on Long Island for which he was nominated for the BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film. He was cast as the reclusive tycoon S.R. Hadden in Contact (1997).[22] During this time, Hurt provided narration on the British musical group Art of Noise's concept album The Seduction of Claude Debussy and narrated a four-part TV series The Universe (1999).[26]
2000–2017
In the first
He voiced the Great Dragon Kilgharrah, who aids the young warlock Merlin as he protects the future King Arthur, in the BBC television series Merlin (also 2008).[28] In 2011, he narrated the BBC documentary, Planet Dinosaur, the first dinosaur-centred documentary completely shown through CGI.[citation needed]
More than thirty years after The Naked Civil Servant, Hurt reprised the role of Quentin Crisp in the 2009 film
At the
During Terry Gilliam's eighth attempt at making his development hell project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Hurt was set to star as Don Quixote alongside Adam Driver. However, his declining health and eventual death led the project to be cancelled yet again; he was eventually replaced by Jonathan Pryce.[35][36]
Hurt was due to appear alongside
Personal life
Hurt had an older brother, Br. Anselm (born Michael), a
In 1962, Hurt married actress Annette Robertson. The marriage ended in 1964. In 1967, he began his longest relationship with Marie-Lise Volpeliere-Pierrot, a French model. The couple had planned to get married after 15 years together. On 26 January 1983, Hurt and Volpeliere-Pierrot went horseback riding early in the morning near their house in Ascott-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire; Volpeliere-Pierrot was thrown from her horse. She went into a coma and died later that day.[41]
In September 1984, Hurt married his old friend, Donna Peacock, an American actress, at a local Register Office. The couple moved to Kenya but divorced in January 1990.[citation needed]
On 24 January 1990, Hurt married Joan Dalton, an American production assistant,[22] whom he had met while filming Scandal. With her, he had two sons. This marriage ended in 1996 and was followed by a seven-year relationship with Sarah Owens, a Dublin-born presenter and writer. The couple moved to County Wicklow, where they settled close to their friends, director John Boorman and Claddagh Records founder and Guinness heir Garech Browne. In July 2002, the couple separated. In March 2005, Hurt married his fourth wife, Anwen Rees-Meyers, an advertising film producer. He gave up smoking and drinking during his fourth marriage.[42] He lived in Cromer, Norfolk.[43]
In 2007, Hurt took part in the BBC genealogical television series Who Do You Think You Are?, which investigated part of his family history. Prior to the programme, Hurt had harboured a love of Ireland and was enamoured of a "deeply beguiling" family legend that suggested his great-grandmother had been the illegitimate daughter of a Marquess of Sligo. The genealogical evidence uncovered seemed to contradict the family legend, rendering the suggestion doubtful. The search revealed that his great-grandmother had previously lived in Grimsby, at a location within a mile of the art college at which Hurt had been a student.[44]
In 2016, Hurt announced he was in favour of the United Kingdom
Illness and death
On 16 June 2015, Hurt publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with early-stage pancreatic cancer.[46] He confirmed that he would continue to work while undergoing treatment and said that both he and the medical team treating him were "more than optimistic about a satisfactory outcome."[47] Following treatment, he stated that his cancer was in remission on 12 October 2015.[48] Hurt died at his home in Cromer, Norfolk, on January 25, 2017, three days after his 77th birthday.[49][50]
Awards and honours
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1978 | Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Midnight Express | Nominated |
1980 | Best Actor | The Elephant Man | Nominated | |
1978 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture | Midnight Express | Won |
1980 | Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama | The Elephant Man | Nominated | |
1971 | BAFTA Awards | Best Supporting Actor | 10 Rillington Place | Nominated |
1975 | Best Actor | The Naked Civil Servant | Won | |
1978 | Best Supporting Actor | Midnight Express | Won | |
1979 | Alien | Nominated | ||
1980 | Best Actor | The Elephant Man | Won | |
1989 | Best Supporting Actor | The Field | Nominated | |
2009 | Best Actor | An Englishman in New York | Nominated | |
2011 | BAFTA Special Award | Received |
Honours
In 2004, Hurt was made a
In 2012, he was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his album cover for the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admired.[55][56]
In 2014, he received the Will Award, presented by the
Charity patron
Since 2003, Hurt was a patron of the Proteus Syndrome Foundation, both in the United Kingdom and in the US.[58] Proteus syndrome is the condition that Joseph Merrick, who Hurt played (renamed as John Merrick) in The Elephant Man, is thought to have suffered from, although Merrick's exact condition is still not known with certainty.[59][60][61][62]
From 2006, Hurt had been a
In 2014, Hurt designed a
University degrees and appointments
In January 2002, Hurt received an honorary degree from the University of Derby. In January 2006 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Hull. In 2012 he was appointed provost of Norwich University College of the Arts,[66] and became its first chancellor when the college became a full university in 2013.[67][68] On 23 January 2013, he was given an Honorary Doctor of Arts by the University of Lincoln, at Lincoln Cathedral.[69]
References
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- ^ Kreps, Daniel (27 January 2017). "John Hurt, Oscar-Nominated 'Elephant Man' Actor, Dead at 77". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
- ^ Ellen, Barbara (13 March 2006). "Barbara Ellen meets John Hurt". The Observer. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- ^ "John Hurt, 'the most distinctive voice in Britain', falls silent". The Australian. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- ^ "John Hurt 'thrilled' with Bafta lifetime achievement honour". BBC News. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ^ Sources that refer to the final scene of Hurt's character in Alien as one of the most memorable in cinematic history include these:
- British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
- Kermode, Mark (19 October 2003). "All fright on the night". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
- "Scariest movie scenes ever". Virgin Media. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- Green, Graeme (10 December 2009). "John Hurt talks Harry Potter, flamenco and chestbursters". Metro. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments". Bravo. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
- "The making of Alien's chestburster scene". The Guardian. UK. 13 October 2009. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- ^ Jones, Paul. "Doctor Who 50th anniversary: John Hurt to play "part of the Doctor"". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ Tobin, Christian (8 May 2013). "John Hurt teases 'Doctor Who' 50th anniversary special role". Digital Spy. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
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- ^ "John Hurt obituary: Open-hearted and hysterically funny". The Irish Times.
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- ^ a b Byrnes, Sholto (16 October 2005). "John Hurt: I was abused, too". Independent on Sunday. London, UK. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ a b "The Guardian Interview: John Hurt". The Guardian. UK. 1 July 2000. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Rob Sharp (19 April 2008). Central Saint Martins: The art and soul of Britain Archived 20 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. The Independent (London). Retrieved July 2013.
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- ^ a b c Graham, Chris (28 January 2017). "Sir John Hurt, legendary British actor, dies aged 77 after battle with pancreatic cancer". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (12 March 2020). "The Elephant Man review – David Lynch's tragic tale of compassion". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
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- ^ "BFI Screenonline: AIDS: Iceberg / Tombstone". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ "Universe (TV Series 1999) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ "IESB First Look: Indy IV Looks Back at the Original Trilogy" (Video). IESB. 1 May 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
- ^ Holmwood, Leigh (23 July 2008). "Michelle Ryan and John Hurt join all-star cast for BBC1 drama Merlin". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- ^ "Actor Hurt to reprise Crisp role". BBC News. 29 April 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ "The History of John Hurt". Apeyo. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- ^ a b Rayner, Gordon (3 July 2013). "Doctor Who's new adversary". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ "Doctor Who: The War Doctor". bigfinish.com. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
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- ^ Jagernauth, Kevin (22 September 2015). "Terry Gilliam's 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' Delayed Again Due To John Hurt's Cancer Diagnosis". The Playlist. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ^ "Ben Kingsley & John Hurt for Neil Jordan – John Boorman's 'Broken Dream'". IFTN. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "Eddie Redmayne, John Hurt Board 'Thomas' Feature". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
- ^ "John Hurt won't appear in Darkest Hour, what was thought to be his final film". Digital Spy. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ "Br. Alselm's cookbook". Glenstal.org. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Norman, Michael (2 December 1990). "John Hurt: Always in Character". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
- ^ "Never lose the edge – John Hurt interview". The Scotsman. 8 February 2018.
- ^ "Acting legend John Hurt talks about his upcoming BAFTA award and life living near Cromer". Johnhurt.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
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- ^ "The celebrities that support Brexit (and the ones backing Remain)". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
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- ^ "2015 New Year Honours List" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2015.
- ^ "'Proud' John Hurt Receives Knighthood". Sky News. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
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- ^ "Sir Peter Blake's new Beatles' Sgt Pepper's album cover". BBC. 9 November 2016.
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- ^ "Ancient DNA analysis unveils mystery of history's most horribly deformed man -- The Elephant Man". EurekAlert!. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ^ Highfield, Roger (22 July 2003). "Science uncovers handsome side of the Elephant Man". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
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- ^ "Why Paddington Bear Statues Have Taken Over London". Condé Nast. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
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External links
- John Hurt at IMDb
- John Hurt at the TCM Movie Database
- John Hurt at the BFI's Screenonline
- David Frost interview with John Hurt, 18 April 2008 on YouTube
- Sir John Hurt Film Trust