
John Hurt
0 FOLLOWERS • 77 CREDITS • JAN 22, 1940 - JAN 25, 2017 • 77
Biography
Sir John Vincent Hurt (January 22, 1940 – January 25, 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. He came to prominence for his role as Richard Rich in the film A Man for All Seasons (1966) and gained BAFTA Award nominations for his portrayals of Timothy Evans in 10 Rillington Place (1971) and Quentin Crisp in television film The Naked Civil Servant (1975) – winning his first BAFTA for the latter. He played Caligula in the BBC TV series I, Claudius (1976). Hurt's performance in the prison drama Midnight Express (1978) brought him international renown and earned Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards, along with an Academy Award nomination. His BAFTA-nominated portrayal of astronaut Kane, in the science-fiction horror film Alien (1979), notably included a scene where an alien creature burst out of his chest, named by several publications as one of the most memorable moments in cinema history.
Hurt earned his third competitive BAFTA, along with his second Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, as Joseph Merrick in David Lynch's biopic The Elephant Man (1980). Other significant roles during the 1980s included Bob Champion in biopic Champions (1984), Mr. Braddock in the Stephen Frears drama The Hit (1984), Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) and Stephen Ward in the drama depicting the Profumo affair, Scandal (1989). Hurt was again BAFTA-nominated for his work in Irish drama The Field (1990) and played the primary villain, James Graham, in the epic adventure Rob Roy (1995). His later films include the Harry Potter film series (2001–11), the Hellboy films (2004 and 2008), supernatural thriller The Skeleton Key (2005), western The Proposition (2005), political thriller V for Vendetta (2005), action adventure Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), sci-fi action Outlander (2008) and the Cold War espionage film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). Hurt reprised his role as Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York (2009), which brought his seventh BAFTA nomination. He portrayed the War Doctor in the BBC TV series Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", in 2013.
Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors; director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in the world". He possessed what was described as the "most distinctive voice in Britain", likened by The Observer to "nicotine sieved through dirty, moonlit gravel". His voice acting career encompassed films such as Watership Down (1978), The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Plague Dogs (1982), The Black Cauldron (1985), Dogville (2003) and Planet Dinosaur (2011) as well as BBC TV series Merlin (2008–2012). In 2012, he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement BAFTA Award, in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to cinema". He was knighted in 2015 for his services to drama.
Known For

Doctor Who

The One Show

GMTV

Parkinson

Golden Globe Awards

Performance

Who Do You Think You Are?

I, Claudius

The Hollywood Greats

The Hollow Crown

A Ghost Story for Christmas

Waking Sleeping Beauty

Live Aid

History of the World: Part I

Doctor Who at the Proms

Creating the World of Harry Potter

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts

Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song

New York, I Love You

Thumbelina

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Merlin

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Spaceballs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Richard Attenborough: A Life in Film

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

A Man for All Seasons

Pride

Melancholia

Valiant

Only Lovers Left Alive

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Immortals

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Jackie

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Outlander

The Black Cauldron

The Gruffalo

The Gruffalo's Child

The Jim Henson Hour

Alien

V for Vendetta

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Contact

Doctor Who: The Night of the Doctor

The Skeleton Key

Hellboy

The Lord of the Rings

Snowpiercer

Hercules

Damascus Cover

Dogville

The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed

Great Moments in Aviation

The Elephant Man

The Alan Clark Diaries

The Confession

Partners

Saigon Baby

The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima

The Plot Against Harold Wilson

The Peddler

Journey to Knock

Deadline

Whistle and I'll Come to You

The Storyteller

Planet Dinosaur

Shadowing the Third Man

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Planet Dinosaur: Ultimate Killers

Love and Death on Long Island

Champions

Hiroshima

Human Planet

Scandal
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