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Actor William Hurt dead at age 71
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Actor William Hurt dead at age 71

Oscar-winning actor William Hurt — whose classic good looks and erudite persona made him one of the most recognizable male leads in the 1980s — died...

Culture & Entertainment

Oscar-winning actor William Hurt — whose classic good looks and erudite persona made him one of the most recognizable male leads in the 1980s — died Sunday, his family said.

Hurt, who starred in hit flicks from “The Big Chill’’ to “Broadcast News’’ and “Children of a Lesser God,’’ was 71.

The actor suffered from prostate cancer that spread to the bone in 2018.

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“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,’’ the actor’s son William said in a statement.

“He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”

In the 1980s, the handsome lanky blond star was nominated three years in a row for an Academy Award for best actor. He won the coveted trophy in 1985 for his role as a gay convict sharing the same cell as a political prisoner in South America in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

The only other actors to have three consecutive Best Actor nods are Paul Muni, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Russell Crowe, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Hurt revived his career and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Richie Cusack in David Cronenberg’s 2005 film “A History of Violence,” despite only appearing for a few minutes of screen time.

In 2009, Hurt was nominated for an Emmy award for playing scientist Daniel Purcell on the second season of FX’s “Damages,” and received another nomination two years later for portraying former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Curtis Hanson‘s HBO telefilm “Too Big to Fail.”

He also was famous for his roles in movies such as “Body Heat” and “Gorky Park.’’

More recently, Hurt appeared as Marvel Comics character General Thaddeus Ross in “The Incredible Hulk,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Widow.”

Born in Washington, DC, Hurt attended Tufts University and eventually the Juilliard School. His first big role was in Ken Russell’s “Altered States.”

Hurt lamented to People magazine in 1985 that he was “a character actor in a leading-man’s body.”

He also resented the spotlight that he was thrust in away from the camera, telling the New York Times in 1989 that he felt his privacy was not being respected.

“It’s not right that my privacy is invaded to the extent that it is,” Hurt said at the time. “I’m a very private man, and I have the right to be. I never said that because I was an actor you can have my privacy, you can steal my soul. You can’t.”

The late film critic Roger Ebert wrote about Hurt in 1988 after the release of “The Accidental Tourist,” calling the actor at the time “one of the two or three best actors in American movies.”

“To almost all of his roles, he brings along a sense of the ordinary, the sense that this is simply a person who happens to find himself in this place at this time,” Ebert said. “That almost bland exterior in the opening scenes is what sets up the later emotional explosions, especially in movies like Altered States and Body Heat.

“When Hurt goes over the top, he appears to have started from a quieter place, and so he seems to have traveled a greater distance than a Mickey Rourke or a Robert De Niro. Only Jack Nicholson is his equal at seeming utterly ordinary.”

Fellow actors took to social media on Sunday to remember Hurt’s storied career, including “Broadcast News” co-star Albert Brooks.

“R.I.P. William Hurt. So sad to hear this news,” Brooks wrote on Twitter Sunday. “Working with him on Broadcast News was amazing. He will be greatly missed.”

“Wow, another Major loss to the acting community. Great actor. Great mind. RIP,” Mark Ruffalo said.

“Saddened to hear of the passing of actor William Hurt,” tweeted Star Trek star George Takei. “He broke the mold in his Oscar-winning role in Kiss of the Spider Woman, broke smiles in Broadcast News, and broke our hearts in The Accidental Tourist. A great loss to the world. Rest among the stars now, good sir.”

Director M. Night Shaymalan, who worked with Hurt on his film “The Village,” said Hurt was “a master of his acting craft. Every take was new and revealing”