Sir John Hurt, the two-time Oscar nominated star of the Elephant Man, has died at the age of 77, his agent confirmed on Saturday morning.
Tributes poured in from the world of showbusiness with the director Mel Brooks hailing him as a 'truly magnificent talent' while Harry Potter author JK Rowling called him 'immensely talented and deeply beloved'.
Hurt bounced back from pancreatic cancer in October 2015 and signed on to appear in a West End production of The Entertainer, only to pull out on the advice of his doctors after he was taken to the hospital with an intestinal complaint.
Despite revealing that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the summer of 2015, Hurt was matter-of-fact about his mortality.
Speaking to the Radio Times, he said: 'I can't say I worry about mortality, but it's impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it.
'We're all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly,' he said.
In the autumn of 2015, Hurt announced he was in remission and vowed to continue working.
The Derbyshire-born star has been an enigmatic and much-beloved presence on the screen for more than six decades. He is survived by his wife of 12 years Anwen Rees-Myers (
Despite the all-clear, Sir John continued to endure periods of ill health. He suffered intestinal complaints and was forced to withdraw from a West End production of The Entertainer last July.
Hurt, whose death was confirmed by his agent Charles McDonald on Saturday, is survived by wife Anwen Rees-Myers, and sons, Alexander and Nick, from his third marriage with Jo Dalton.
The English actor, born in Derbyshire in 1940, became a critical and commercial success in films like Midnight Express, Alien and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
The son of a vicar and an engineer, Hurt spent what he described as a lonely childhood at an Anglo-Catholic prep school before he enrolled at a boarding school in Lincoln.
His acting aspirations were almost shattered forever by his headmaster's insistence that he did not stand a chance in the profession.
Hurt first rose to fame in A Man For All Seasons in 1966 and later clinched a BAFTA for best supporting actor, along with an Oscar nomination, for playing a drug addict in Midnight Express.
Hurt picked up yet another BAFTA just two years later in 1980 - this time as a leading actor in David Lynch's Elephant Man.
He also received his second Oscar nomination for the performance, which many extolled as Hurt's best.
The actor also enjoyed immense commercial success, playing Kane in the 1979 blockbuster Alien. The iconic scene in which an alien bursts from his chest won the actor a place in film history.
He later reprised the role in Mel Brooks' parody Spaceballs, and fans went on to compile clips of Hurt's famous last scenes, since the actor gained a reputation for taking on characters who meet their tragic ends.
The star later found a new generation of fans by taking on the role of Garrick Ollivander in the Harry Potter franchise.
Hurt was also known for his work as a voice actor and took his talents to the small screen, where he played a prominent role in Doctor Who, The Naked Civil Servant, and I, Claudius.
Hurt most recently starred in the Oscar-nominated biopic of President John F. Kennedy's widow, Jackie, which is currently showing in cinemas. The film's director Pablo LarraÃn issued a statement saying: 'John was invincible. Unflinching. Eternal.'
No comments:
Post a Comment