John Hurt

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John Hurt, 2015
John Hurt at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Sir John Vincent Hurt , Kt CBE (born January 22, 1940 in Chesterfield , Derbyshire , † January 25, 2017 in Cromer , Norfolk ), was a British theater and film actor and voice actor . Hurt has been one of the most prominent British character actors since the mid-1970s. In 1979 he was awarded a Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his role in Alan Parker's drama 12 o'clock at night - Midnight Express .

Live and act

According to his own account, Hurt, the son of a pastor , decided at the age of nine to become an actor: “I had an enormous sense of theater […] from an early age” (“I had a great feeling from a young age for theater ”). At school he was active in theater performances. For his conservative parents, acting was not a good career choice. They saw a life as a freelance artist as "too insecure" and sent their son to the London Saint-Martins Art School so that he could seek a secure job as an art teacher.

However, when Hurt was offered a theater scholarship to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1962, he dropped out of art studies to learn acting. Since his parents did not support him in this, he initially took on every role in order to keep himself afloat financially. He appeared in a wide variety of plays and television series, made himself known in the industry and eventually got a leading role in the play Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs .

Hurt himself saw the play, which premiered in Dublin , in retrospect as his breakthrough, as he met the film director Fred Zinnemann there . He was so impressed by his performance that he hired him for a supporting role in the period drama A Man Every Season . The film, which received six Academy Awards , became one of Zinnemann's greatest hits. The collaboration with Zinnemann went so well that he also made his friend John Huston aware of Hurt.

Huston cast him - against the opposition of the studio, which did not consider him well known - for the lead role in the comedy Dave - Home in All Beds . Although the film flopped, Hurt received other offers. In 1972 he received a nomination for the British Film Awards for his acting performance as the alleged murderer Timothy Evans in the thriller John Christie, the strangler of London .

Hurt's film career now gained momentum, critics noticed him and his achievements were praised. In total, he was nominated six times for the British Film Awards, three times he was awarded. Hurt could not be tied to individual genres and took on a wide variety of roles - with mixed success. Due to his distinctive voice he was as a voice actor for cartoons in demand, including for Watership Down (1978) and in the same year for The Lord of the Rings .

He played Quentin Crisp in the films The Naked Civil Servant (1975) and An Englishman in New York (2008) ; in the former, much to the delight of the English eccentric , who thereby achieved great fame. After his excellent, explicit portrayal of a homosexual on British television, Hurt himself initially hardly found any new engagements.

He made a name for himself on the international stage with his performances at 12 o'clock at night - Midnight Express , for which he received his first Oscar nomination in 1978, and Ridley Scott's Alien - The uncanny creature from an alien world . His appearance in the sci-fi - horror film was relatively short, but he played the main character in one of the most memorable and bloody scenes of the film in which an alien slips out of his chest. Hurt was approached about this scene on the street and in interviews until his death. Eight years later he parodied this scene in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs .

The role that Hurt described as the most physically demanding of his career was the title role as John Merrick in David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980). Applying the unusual mask took up to twelve hours before filming began. Hurt is said to have said to his wife at the time: "I think you have now made me hate acting." The hardships he put up with were rewarded with another Oscar nomination.

Four years later, he took on the role of Winston Smith in Michael Radford's adaptation of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 , in which Richard Burton can be seen in his last film role as Smith's tormentor O'Brien . In 2006, as in ironic reference to the role, Hurt played Grand Chancellor Sutler (leader of autocratic Britain) in V for Vendetta . In 2001, he took on the role of wand maker Mr. Ollivander in the novel adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . In 2010 and 2011 he was in the sequels Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 and Part 2 in the same role. In 2013 he played the " War Doctor " in the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who .

Hurt largely withdrew from the star system and took on difficult, also unsympathetic roles that might not have a large audience, but presented him with challenges as an actor. From time to time he also appeared in larger Hollywood productions (for example: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ) in order to be able to participate in smaller, less financially strong projects. In January 2012 he was cast in Joon-ho Bong's thriller Snowpiercer . His last film role was Hurt in That Good Night .

Hurt has appeared in the British fantasy series Merlin - The New Adventures in the original voice of the dragon since 2008 . In June 2004 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and in 2015 he was promoted to Knight Bachelor . For some years now, Hurt and the English organization Project Harar Ethiopia have been campaigning for disadvantaged children in Africa who suffer from facial injuries (e.g. noma , hyena bites, burns, facial tumors) or deformities (e.g. cleft palates).

In mid-2015, Hurt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died on January 25, 2017 at the age of 77.

John Hurt had many German voice actors over the course of his career ; Since How to Live Your Life (1975) it was mainly Jürgen Thormann .

family

John Hurt was married four times and had two children with Jo Dalton, his third wife. Because of alcohol-related escapades and subsequent withdrawal treatments, he kept making headlines.

His brother Michael lives as a Benedictine monk with the religious name Brother Anselm in the monastery of Glenstal Abbey in Murroe in County Limerick in Ireland . He works as a chef there and has written a cookbook with favorite recipes, for which John Hurt wrote the foreword.

Filmography (selection)

honors and awards

Oscar

  • 1979: Nominated for best supporting actor for 12 noon - Midnight Express
  • 1981: nominated as best leading actor for The Elephant Man

British Academy Film Award

  • 1976: best leading actor for How to Live Your Life
  • 1979: best supporting actor for 12 noon - Midnight Express
  • 1980: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Alien
  • 1981: best leading actor for The Elephant Man
  • 2012: best British contribution to cinema

Golden Globe Award

  • 1979: best supporting actor for 12 noon - Midnight Express
  • 1981: nominated as best leading actor for The Elephant Man

Teddy Award

  • 2009: Special teddy bear for exceptional acting in the film "An Englishman In New York"

Others

Quotes

“I've done some stinkers in the cinema. You can't regret it; there are always reasons for doing something, even if it's just the location. "

“I made some scrap. You can't regret that; there's always a reason to do something, even if it's just the location. "

"I turn up in Los Angeles every now and then, so I can get some big money films in order to finance my smaller money films."

"From time to time I show up in Los Angeles to make films on a large budget so that I can do the films on a budget."

Web links

Commons : John Hurt  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Sir John Hurt: Bafta-winning actor dies aged 77 . BBC News , January 28, 2017, accessed January 29, 2017.
    According to his agent, Hurt died in London on January 27th. Andrew Pulver: John Hurt, widely admired stage and screen actor, dies aged 77 . The Guardian , January 28, 2017, accessed January 29, 2017.
  2. ↑ Gary Brunbergh: John Hurt Mini Biography . Imdb , accessed on January 28, 2017.
  3. ↑ Caroline Davies: New Year honors 2015: damehoods for Joan Collins and Esther Rantzen . The Guardian , December 30, 2014, accessed January 28, 2017.
  4. ^ John Hurt by a Snow Piercer. Dread Central January 23, 2012; Archived from the original on May 10, 2012 ; accessed on January 28, 2017 (English).
  5. ↑ Julia Bauer: "Harry Potter": This star has pancreatic cancer! Bunte.de , June 17, 2015, accessed on January 28, 2017.
  6. ↑ Lucinda O'Sullivan: Brother Hurt turns celeb chef with taste of simple life . Irish Independent , October 4, 2009, accessed January 28, 2017 (via Brother Anselm Hurt and his cookbook; English).
personal data
SURNAME Hurt, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hurt, John Vincent (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Chesterfield , Derbyshire, England
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 2017
Place of death London