• Ar
  • Es
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Feature
  • Videos
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Feature
Videos
Infographs
In Pictures
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. US & Canada
  4. Oscar-winning actor William Hurt passes away
US & Canada

Oscar-winning actor William Hurt passes away

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen Net
  • 14 Mar 2022 08:48
  • 1 Shares

The star of Kiss of the Spider Woman was first announced dead by Deadline through a statement by his son Will

  • William Hurt
    William Hurt

Academy Award-winning actor William Hurt has passed away at the age of 71.

The star of Kiss of the Spider Woman was first announced dead by Deadline through a statement by his son Will:

“It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar-winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday. He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes.”

Hurt was born in 1950 and began his acting journey once he enrolled at the Juilliard school in 1972 following his study of theology at university. A stage actor for the most part in his early career, he turned to cinema with a major role in the Ken Russel cult horror film Altered States (1980), a role that landed him the starring part in the sensational thriller Body Heat (1981) opposite Kathleen Turner. The thriller turned the emerging actor into a bonafide star of the 80s, where he played prominent roles in the comedy drama The Big Chill (1983), the spy thriller Gorky Park (1983) before going on to star in the Hector Babenco picture Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985).

The Paul Schrader-penned film would change Hurt's life, earning him the Best Actor award at Cannes as well as at the Oscar for playing the gay cellmate of an imprisoned leftist revolutionary. In 1986, the actor would star in Children of a Lesser God opposite Marlee Matlin, the only deaf performer to win a Best Actress Oscar to date. He earned a third consecutive Academy Award nomination in 1988, for his role as a TV reporter in Broadcast News.

The 90's were a somehow calm and uneventful period in Hurt's life, mostly starring in arthouse films that mostly went under the radar.

In 2005, the actor made a powerful comeback with his role in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence, playing the chilling role of a crime boss seeking to exact revenge on Viggo Mortensen's ex-criminal. Both actors were nominated that year for Bes Supporting Actor and Best Actor respectively. In an atypical move, the prestigious actor joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe three years later by playing General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in The Incredible Hulk, a role he would reprise in four later films, cementing him as a key character in the modern superhero mythos.

Married twice, Hurt was also in a high-profile relationship with his co-star Marlee Matlin.

A poignant and touching performer with a tendency for challenging experimentation, William Hurt's filmography is a uniquely profound insight into the variety and humanness a thespian could bring forth to cinema and to audiences worldwide.

  • Paul Schrader
  • William Hurt
  • Hollywood
  • Oscars
  • David Cronenberg

Trending Now

All
Will Smith refused to leave Oscars after slapping Rock: Academy

The Academy reveals Will Smith refused to leave Oscars after slapping Rock

Most Read

London posts job ad for mercenaries for Ukraine counteroffensive

London posts job ad for mercenaries for Ukraine's counteroffensive

  • Africa
  • 24 May
The Middle East Stabilises, Against the Backdrop of a Great Unravelling

The Middle East Stabilises, Against the Backdrop of a Great Unravelling

  • Analysis
  • 28 May
In this image released by the Italian firefighters, a helicopter searches for missing passengers after a tourist boat capsized in a storm on Italy's Lago Maggiore in the northern Lombardy region, May 28, 2023 (AP)

Top Israeli intelligence official dead in Italy: Israeli media

  • Europe
  • 29 May
The domestically produced C919 passenger jet flies at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, Peoeple's Republic of China, 8 November 2022. (Reuters)

China is set to launch first commercial flight on its C919 plane

  • Asia
  • 26 May

Read this

All
Chief of the Australian Defence Force Gen. Angus Campbell bites his lips while delivering the findings from the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry, in Canberra, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. (AP)
Asia Pacific

Australian Defense bans drinking while deployed due to war crimes

  • 30 May
Elon Musk
Asia

Musk in China, Tesla to continue expanding business with Asian giant

  • 30 May
The US Treasury Building is viewed in Washington, US on May 4, 2021. (AP)
US & Canada

US issues new sanctions on Syria, targets two money service businesses

  • 30 May
Casualties in Ukraine strike on evacuee housing centers in Belgorod
Europe

Casualties in Ukraine strike on evacuee housing center in Belgorod

  • 30 May
Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS