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John Hurt

John Hurt

Actor · 1940 – 2017 · Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, UK

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.

Movies24

  • Movie7.9
  • Movie8.1
  • Movie7.7
  • Movie8.2

    Alien

    1979 · 16K votes

  • Movie6.9

    Spaceballs

    1987 · 3.5K votes

  • Movie7.9

    V for Vendetta

    2006 · 15K votes

  • Movie6.0
  • Movie5.8

    Hercules

    2014 · 4.4K votes

  • Movie7.4

    Contact

    1997 · 5.2K votes

  • Movie7.4
  • Movie6.9

    Snowpiercer

    설국열차

    2013 · 10K votes

  • Movie6.1

    Immortals

    2011 · 2.9K votes

  • Movie6.8

    Hellboy II: The Golden Army

    2008 · 5.7K votes

  • Movie8.1

    The Elephant Man

    1980 · 4.1K votes

  • Movie6.5

    Thumbelina

    1994 · 554 votes

  • Movie6.6

    The Skeleton Key

    2005 · 2.4K votes

  • Movie6.4

    The Black Cauldron

    1985 · 1.5K votes

  • Movie6.7

    Hellboy

    2004 · 7.6K votes

  • Movie6.6
  • Movie6.7

    The Tigger Movie

    2000 · 666 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Nineteen Eighty-Four

    1984 · 1.7K votes

  • Movie7.7

    Dogville

    2003 · 2.8K votes

  • Movie7.2

    Melancholia

    2011 · 3.9K votes

  • Movie6.6

    The Lord of the Rings

    1978 · 1.1K votes

Series24

  • TV6.9

    Saturday Night Live

    1975 · 527 votes

  • TV7.6

    Doctor Who

    2005 · 3.5K votes

  • TV5.8

    GMTV

    1993 · 14 votes

  • TV7.0

    Golden Globe Awards

    1944 · 20 votes

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    NOVA

    1974 · 141 votes

  • TV6.1

    Great Performances

    1971 · 25 votes

  • TV6.6

    Play for Today

    1970 · 10 votes

  • TV7.1

    Screen Two

    1985 · 7 votes

  • TV7.8

    Merlin

    2008 · 1.2K votes

  • TV8.1

    The Sweeney

    1975 · 28 votes

  • TV7.4

    Natural World

    1983 · 31 votes

  • TV
  • TV7.0

    ITV Playhouse

    1967 · 3 votes

  • TV5.1

    Film '72

    1971 · 8 votes

  • TV6.3

    Performance

    1991 · 2 votes

  • TV7.0
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  • TV
  • TV6.0

    ScreenPlay

    1986 · 2 votes

  • TV6.0

    Playhouse Presents

    2012 · 1 votes

  • TV7.4

    The Hollow Crown

    2012 · 82 votes

  • TV7.3

    NET Playhouse

    1966 · 3 votes

  • TV9.0

    The Jim Henson Hour

    1989 · 11 votes

  • TV7.0

    Gideon's Way

    1965 · 5 votes