|
Hurt, who had starred in more than 200 films and television
series over a career spanning six decades, revealed in 2015 that
he was suffering from the early stages of pancreatic cancer and
that he was receiving treatment.
His death was confirmed to Reuters via email by Charles
McDonald, a British-based representative for the actor's Los
Angeles talent manager, John Crosby. The BBC, citing the actor's
agent, also reported that Hurt had died. Further details of the
circumstances of his death were not immediately available.
Hurt said at the time of his cancer diagnosis that he intended
to continue working. He most recently starred in the Sundance TV
crime series "The Last Panthers" and in the Oscar-nominated film
"Jackie", playing a priest who consoled the newly widowed wife
of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
Hurt, a native of Derbyshire in England, garnered his first
Academy Award nomination for his supporting role as Max, an
inmate who befriends the imprisoned drug smuggler Billy inside a
Turkish jail in the gripping 1978 drama "Midnight Express".
He earned greater acclaim, and an Oscar nomination as best lead
actor, for his memorable portrayal of John Merrick, a grossly
disfigured Victorian-era man struggling to project his humanity
while enduring the indignities of life as a side-show freak.
With his face obscured behind the character's deformity, Hurt's
performance rested largely on the expression of the actor's
signature raspy voice.
His roles in both "The Elephant Man" and "Midnight Express" won
him Britain's top film award, the BAFTA. He was bestowed an
honorary BAFTA in 2012 for his outstanding contribution to
cinema.
Hurt also played a key role in the original 1979 sci-fi thriller
"Alien". His character, Kane, became the first member of a space
merchant vessel crew to fall victim to a fearsome life form,
encountered on a distant moon, when a deadly parasitic creature
burst from his chest.
Other notable credits include supporting parts as a village
doctor in Greece whose daughter falls in love with an Italian
military officer during World War Two in the 2001 film "Captain
Corelli's Mandolin", and as the eccentric wand-maker Mr.
Ollivander in the "Harry Potter" movie franchise.
(Reporting by Thomas Newey in LONDON; Additional reporting by
Piya Sinha-Roy in LOS ANGELES; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing
by Paul Tait)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
