Dutch Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer dies at 75: ANP

[July 25, 2019]   AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, best known for his role in science fiction classic Blade Runner, died on July 19 after a short illness, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Wednesday, citing his family. He was 75.

Hauer, whose funeral took place in the Netherlands on Wednesday, appeared in a total of over 100 Dutch and international movies. He won a Golden Globe in 1988 for his role in Escape from Sobibor.

In Blade Runner, Hauer played the part of android Roy Batty, the adversary of "blade runner" Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford.

Hauer starred in Dutch classics and Hollywood blockbusters as well as in a whole range of B-movies, in which he was mostly cast as the villain.

"I'm not very good at judging movie scripts," he said in 1994, adding that the less budget a movie had, the more they were willing to pay him.

Hauer, who led a quiet life in the north of the Netherlands when not in Hollywood, used his money and fame to help children and pregnant women with HIV/Aids through his non-profit Starfish Association.

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who made five movies and TV series with Hauer, said he had lost his "alter ego."

"He was to me what Marcello Mastroianni was to Fellini. I have only good memories."

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by William Maclean and Alison Williams)

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