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William Hurt
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Birthplace: Washington, District of Columbia, USA
One of the top leading men of the
'80s, William Hurt is notable for his intensity and effective portrayals
of complex characters. Although born in Washington, D.C., Hurt had already
seen much of the world by the time he was grown, as his father worked
for the State Department. His early years spent in the South Pacific near
Guam, Hurt moved to Manhattan with his mother after his parents divorced
when he was six years old. He spent the summers with his father, vacationing
in a variety of international locales, including Sudan. At the age of
ten, Hurt's life again changed dramatically when he became a stepson to
Henry Luce III, the heir to the Time-Life empire. His mother's second
marriage indirectly led to Hurt's initial involvement with the theater:
sent away to a boarding school in Massachusetts, he found comfort in acting.
After going on to Tufts University to study theology for three years at his stepfather's urging, Hurt married aspiring actress Mary Beth Supinger and followed her to London to study drama. Upon their return to the U.S., Hurt studied drama at Juilliard. By this time, under the realization that his marriage was failing, Hurt divorced his wife, got a motorcycle, and headed cross country for the Shakespeare festival in Ashland, OR, where he made his professional debut in a production of Hamlet. He later joined New York's Circle Repertory Company, and went on to receive critical acclaim for his work on the New York stage.
Hurt made his feature film debut in Ken Russell's Altered States in 1980, but it was not until he appeared opposite Kathleen Turner in Body Heat (1981) that he became a star and sex symbol. Four years later, he won Best Actor Oscar and British Academy awards as well as a similar honor at Cannes for his sensitive portrayal of a gay prisoner in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). He was again nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his two subsequent films, Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). Further success followed in 1988 when he starred in The Accidental Tourist.
As bright as his star shone on stage and screen, by the end of the '80s, a darker side of Hurt was exposed when he was sued by his former live-in love and mother of his daughter Alex, ballet dancer Sandra Jennings, who claimed to be his common-law wife. Despite his personal problems, Hurt continued to stay relatively busy, beginning the new decade with a fine turn in Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World (1991). He subsequently appeared in such acclaimed films as Smoke (1995), Jane Eyre (1996), One True Thing (1998), and Dark City (1998). In 1998, Hurt appeared as the patriarch of one of televisions most beloved sci-fi families in the big-budgeted remake of Lost in Space, and as a gubernatorial candidate with a shadowy past in George Hickenlooper's political drama The Big Brass Ring (1999).
Still alternating between stage and screen into
the new millennium, Hurt stuck mainly to the small screen in the next
few years. After lending his voice to the animated portrayal of the life
of Jesus Christ in The Miracle Maker, appearing in the mini-series Dune,
and taking the title role of The Contaminated Man in 2000, Hurt returned
to features with his role in director Steven Spielberg's long anticipated
(post-mortem) collaboration with the late Stanley Kubrick, A.I. As the
well-intending scientist who sets the story of an artificial boy capable
of learning and love into motion, Hurt's character seemed to provide the
antithesis of the regressive experiments his previous character had flirted
with in Altered States. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Tulse Luper Suitcases, The (2003)
Blue Butterfly, The (2002) .... Alan Osborne
... aka Mariposa azul (2002)
"Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story" (2002) (mini) TV Series
.... Robert P. Hanssen
Tuck Everlasting (2002) .... Angus Tuck
Au plus près du paradis (2002) .... Matt
... aka Nearest to Heaven (2002) (International: English title)
Changing Lanes (2002) .... Sponsor
"Rivière-des-Jérémie" (2001) TV Series
.... G. Adam Davidson aka Gad
Rare Birds (2001) .... Dave
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) .... Professor Allen Hobby, the Visionary
... aka A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) (USA: poster title)
Flamingo Rising, The (2001) (TV) .... Turner Knight
Contaminated Man, The (2000) .... David R. Whitman
... aka Bei Berührung Tod (2000) (Germany)
... aka Contagion (2000) (UK)
Varian's War (2000) (TV) .... Varian Fry
"Dune" (2000) (mini) TV Series .... Duke Leto Atreides
... aka "Frank Herbert's Dune - Der Wüstenplanet" (2001)
(mini) (Germany)
... aka "Frank Herbert's Dune" (2000) (mini) (USA: complete
title)
... aka "Wüstenplanet, Der" (2001) (mini) (Germany)
Miracle Maker, The (2000) (TV) (voice) .... Jairus
Simian Line, The (2000) .... Edward
4th Floor, The (1999) .... Greg Harrison
Do Not Disturb (1999) .... Walter Richmond
... aka Silent Witness (1999) (USA: video title)
Sunshine (1999) .... Andor Knorr
... aka Napfény íze, A (2000) (Hungary)
... aka Sunshine - Ein Hauch von Sonnenschein (2000) (Germany)
Big Brass Ring, The (1999) .... William Blake Pellarin
One True Thing (1998) .... George Gulden
Lost in Space (1998) .... Mission Commander Professor John Robinson, PhD
... aka LS (1998) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Proposition, The (1998) .... Arthur Barret
Dark City (1998) .... Inspector Frank Bumstead
Loved (1997) .... K.D. Dietrickson
Michael (1996) .... Frank Quinlan
Mondani a mondhatatlant: Elie Wiesel üzenete (1996) (voice) ....
Narrator
... aka Dire l'indicible: La quête d'Élie Wiesel (1997) (France)
... aka To Speak the Unspeakable: The Message of Elie Wiesel (1996)
Un divan à New York (1996) .... Henry Harriston
... aka Couch in New York, A (1996)
... aka Couch in New York, Eine (1996) (Germany)
Jane Eyre (1996) .... Rochester
... aka Jane Eyre (1996) (France)
Smoke (1995) .... Paul Benjamin, Novelist
... aka Smoke - Raucher unter sich (1995) (Germany)
Ispoved neznakomtsu (1994) .... The stranger
... aka Confidences à un inconnu (1994)
... aka Confidenze ad uno sconosciuto (1994) (Italy)
... aka Secrets Shared with a Stranger (1994)
Second Best (1994) .... Graham Holt
Trial by Jury (1994) .... Tommy Vesey
Mr. Wonderful (1993) .... Tom
Peste, La (1992) .... Doctor Bernard Rieux
... aka Plague, The (1992)
Secrets of Dick Smith, The (1991) (TV) .... Himself (Discussing Altered
States)
Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991) .... Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
... aka Jusqu'au bout du monde (1991) (France)
... aka Until the End of the World (1991) (USA)
Doctor, The (1991) .... Dr. Jack MacKee
Alice (1990) .... Doug
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (1990) (voice) ....
Steve
I Love You to Death (1990) .... Harlan James
Accidental Tourist, The (1988) .... Macon
Time of Destiny, A (1988) .... Martin Larraneta
Broadcast News (1987) .... Tom Grunick
Children of a Lesser God (1986) .... James
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) .... Luis Molina
... aka Beijo da Mulher Aranha, O (1985) (Brazil)
... aka Beso de la mujer araña, El (1985) (Argentina)
Gorky Park (1983) .... Arkady Renko
Big Chill, The (1983) .... Nick Williams
Making of 'Gorky Park', The (1983) (TV) .... Himself
Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1982) (TV) .... Oberon
All the Way Home (1981) (TV) .... Jay Follet
Body Heat (1981) .... Ned Racine
Eyewitness (1981) .... Daryll Deever
... aka Janitor, The (1981)
Altered States (1980) .... Professor Eddie Jessup
Verna: USO Girl (1978) (TV) .... Walter
"Best of Families, The" (1977) (mini) TV Series .... James Lathrop
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