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John Hurt filmography and biography

Date of birth : 22 January 1940, Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England, UK

John Hurt biography

Britain's superbly eccentric import John Hurt is a perfect example of how huge, wondrous gifts can come in small, unadorned packages. His magnetic, often bedeviled portraits have touched the souls of film-goers internationally for over four decades, and there seems to be no end to the depth of this man's talent. Stretching the boundaries every which way but loose, he continues to be a definitive textbook in in the art of acting metamorphosis.

This transatlantic talent was born John Vincent Hurt on January 22, 1940 in Shirebrook, a coal mining village near the busy market town of Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, England, to a parish vicar and a one-time actress. The youngest of three children, he spent much of his childhood in solitude. Demonstrating little initiative, he was guided into art as a possible direction. The family moved to Grimsby when he turned twelve and, despite an active early passion in acting, his parents thought less of it and enrolled him at the Grimsby Art School and St. Martin's School of Art where he showed some flourish. When he couldn't manage to get another scholarship to art school, his focus invariably turned to acting. Accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he remained for two years and made his stage debut in 1962 in typically offbeat form with "Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger". An odd, sombre, pasty-looking fellow with an aquiline nose (injured while playing sports) and a mass of Irish freckles, he was hardly leading man material. His focus as a painter, however, triggered a keen skill in the art of observation and certainly advanced his talent for getting into the skin of his characters. His movie debut occurred that same year with a supporting role in the ill-received British "angry young man" drama The Wild and the Willing (1962).

Transitioning between stage, TV and film for the rest of the decade he increased his respect with such plays as "Inadmissible Evidence" (1965), "Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs" (1966), a role he later took to film as Little Malcolm (1974), "Macbeth" (as Malcolm) (1967) and "Man and Superman" (1969), as well as prime parts in such films as A Man for All Seasons (1966), a role he was given after director Fred Zinnemann saw his stellar work in "Little Malcolm." He continued on the stage as an unlikely Romeo in 1973, and went on to garner great applause in Pinter's "The Caretaker" and "The Dumb Waiter", and in "Travesties" (1974).

It was TV, however, that displayed the full magnitude and fearless range of his acting instrument. In the mid-70s he gained widespread acclaim for his embodiment of the tormented gay writer and raconteur Quentin Crisp in the landmark TV play The Naked Civil Servant (1975) (TV), adapted from Crisp's autobiography. Way, way ahead of its time, Hurt's bold and unabashed take on the flamboyant and controversial gent who dared to be different was rewarded with the Emmy and British TV Awards. Far and away one of the most marvelous creations ever captured on the small screen, he was altogether unsettling, unappetizing and unforgettable. Audiences cringed but were mesmerized at the same time -- like a car wreck. He WAS Quentin Crisp.

Doors immediately opened for the best parts film and TV had to offer. Once again he was strikingly disturbing as the cruel and crazed Roman emperor Caligula in the epic TV masterpiece I, Claudius (1976). The chameleon in him then displayed a polar side as the gentle, pathetically disfigured The Elephant Man (1980), and when he morphed into the role of a tortured Turkish prison inmate who befriends Brad Davis (I) in the intense drama Midnight Express (1978), he was barely recognizable. The last two films earned Hurt his Oscar nominations. Handed mainstream box-office films as a result, he made the most of his role as a crew member whose body becomes host to an unearthly predator in Alien (1979). Who can forget the film's most notorious scene as the creature explodes from Hurt's stomach and scurries away into the bowels of the spaceship?

Along with fame, of course, came a few misguided ventures generally unworthy of his talent. Such brilliant work as his steeple chase jockey in Champions (1984) or kidnapper in The Hit (1984) was occasionally offset by such drivel as the comedy misfire Partners (1982/I) with 'Ryan O'Neal (I)' in which Hurt looked enervated and embarrassed. But those were few and far between.

As for the past couple of decades, the craggy-faced actor continues to draw extraordinary notices. Tops on the list includes his prurient governmental gadfly who triggers the Christine Keeler political sex scandal in the aptly-titled Scandal (1989); the cultivated gay writer aroused and obsessed with struggling "pretty-boy" actor Jason Priestley in Love and Death on Long Island (1997); and the Catholic priest embroiled in the Rwanda atrocities in Shooting Dogs (2005).

His rich tones have also been tapped into frequently with a number of animated features and documentaries, often serving as narrator. Presently married to his fourth wife, genius is often accompanied by a darker, more self-destructive side and Hurt was no exception with alcohol being his choice of poison. He has since recovered. He has two children from his third wife.

John Hurt trivia

- He lived with Marie-Lise Volpeliere-Pierrot from 1967-83, when she was killed in a riding accident.
- Son of a clergyman.
- Trained to become a painter at Grimsby Art School.
- Studied at RADA.
- He is an Associate of RADA.
- He did the film History of the World: Part I (1981) because he had just gotten through doing two seriously dramatic films and said that he wanted to have fun and do a comedy.
- Has two sons with Jo Dalton: Nicolas and Alexander.
- Has worked with two Boromirs. In Ralph Bakshi's film The Lord of the Rings (1978), he played the voice of "Aragorn", opposite Michael Graham Cox (as "Boromir") who went on to reprise the role for BBC radio. He later appeared in The Field (1990) with Sean Bean, who played the role in Peter Jackson (I)'s adaptation.
- His mother opened a school at his father's vicarage when he was five.
- Is the youngest of three children.
- Father was a vicar in Derbyshire.
- Spoofs his role from Alien (1979) in Spaceballs (1987).
- 26th January 2006, received an honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University of Hull, Yorkshire.
- Was not the first choice for the role of "Kane" in Alien (1979). He was brought in on the second day of filming after Jon Finch, the original actor cast for the role, was diagnosed with a severe case of diabetes and taken to hospital.
- As Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) he portrays a victim of a totalitarian society, with Big Brother as its head. In V for Vendetta (2006), he portrays the "Big Brother"-type leader "Chancellor Sutler".
- Provided the voice of Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi's film The Lord of the Rings (1978). Though not a financial success, it sparked enough interest in Tolkien's works that the BBC decided to air its own adaptation, and it was also what inspired Peter Jackson (I) to make his live-action films. Both subsequent adaptations featured Ian Holm, with whom Hurt appeared in Alien (1979).
- An early passion for acting was triggered when he saw Alec Guinness play Fagin in the film Oliver Twist (1948).
- His sister became a school teacher in Australia; his brother, the eldest child, a Roman Catholic monk.
- Was offered the role of Dr. Yueh in Dune (1984).
- Were friends with the late John Entwistle, bassist and founding member of The Who. He had written a poem about him and read it out loud at his memorial October 24th, 2002.
- He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Drama.
- The make-up he wore to play The Elephant Man (1980) also inspired the appearance of Gothmog in Peter Jackson (I)'s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
- Was considered for the role of Dr.Sam Loomis in Halloween (2007).

John Hurt filmography