William Hurt, an Oscar winner whose classic good looks and scholarly demeanour made him one of the most identifiable male leads in the 1980s, died on Sunday, according to his family.
Hurt, who acted in films such as “The Big Chill,” “Broadcast News,” and “Children of a Lesser God,” died at the age of 71.
In 2018, the actor was diagnosed with prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
“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,’’ In a statement, the actor’s William, his son, stated. “He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”
The attractive, lanky blond star was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor three years in a row in the 1980s. In 1985, he earned the coveted award for his portrayal of a gay convict in South America sharing a cell with a political prisoner in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”
According to the sources, Paul Muni, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Russell Crowe are the only other performers to have received three Best Actor nominations in a succession.
Hurt was dubbed “one of the two or three best actors in American movies” by late film critic Roger Ebert in 1988, following the release of “The Accidental Tourist.”
“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.’
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