William Hurt
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Biography
The textbook model of the sensitive leading man, Oscar-winning actor William Hurt was a major player in 1980s cinema who was typically cast as a detached intellectual type and easily at his best playing characters who were physically or emotionally damaged. Hurt first came to attention opposite Kathleen Turner in the steamy "Body Heat" (1981), before standing out in the ensemble cast of Lawrence Kasdan's classic drama "The Big Chill" (1983). Following his breakthrough role as a gay window dresser in "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985), Hurt was vaulted to the upper tier of Hollywood leading men. He earned more critical acclaim for "Children of a Lesser God" (1986) and "Broadcast News" (1987) before falling off the radar for a time with supporting roles inprojects like "I Love You to Death" (1990), "Mr. Wonderful" (1993) and "Michael" (1996). Hurt also had a brief, but Oscar-nominated, performance in "A History of Violence" (2005). With his wounded portrayal of a scientist grieving the murder of his wife on the second season of "Damages" (FX, 2007-2010) and his portrayal of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in "Too Big to Fail" (HBO, 2011), Hurt cemented his reputation as a passionate artist more concerned with creating great roles than with straightforward leading-man roles.
Born in Washington, D.C. on March 20, 1950, Hurt was the son of father, Alfred McCord Hurt, who worked for the U.S. State Department as the director of trust territories, and mother, Claire McGill. After her 1956 divorce from Hurt's father, McGill married Henry Luce III, son of Henry Luce, the legendary publishing titan and founder of Time, Inc. which churned out TIME, LIFE and later, Sports Illustrated magazines. Raised in a life of privilege, Hurt attended the Middlesex School, a posh preparatory academy in Concord, MA. Active and outgoing as a student, Hurt became heavily involved in high school drama, serving as Vice President of the Dramatics Club his senior year. Recognizing his potential for acting greatness, Hurt's yearbook staff predicted for him a bright future on Broadway. After graduating, Hurt headed off to Tufts University, where he briefly majored in religion, but it did not take long for him to find his way back to the stage. In the early 1970s, Hurt enrolled at the prestigious Julliard Drama School, where he studied alongside future "Superman," Christopher Reeve.
After extensive stage work with the Circle Repertory Company and the New York Shakespeare Festival, Hurt made his film debut as a scientist whose psychedelic experiments yield beastly results in "Altered States" (1980), a sci-fi/horror film directed by Ken Russell. Only a year later and seemingly out of nowhere, Hurt solidified his status as a leading man by co-starring opposite Kathleen Turner as the sexy, cocksure attorney, Ned Racine, in "Body Heat" (1981), a steamy, neo-noir suspense flick directed by accomplished screenwriter, Lawrence Kasdan. Appropriately enough, for his follow-up to "Body Heat," Hurt went in the polar opposite direction to star in "The Big Chill" (1983), a masterfully crafted ensemble drama also written and directed by Kasdan. In the most subtly nuanced performance of his career, Hurt played baby boomer Nick Carlton, a self-absorbed psychologist drug dealer who faces a bittersweet reunion with his past.
But it was Hurt's gripping performance as the flamboyantly gay window dresser, Luis Molina, in Hector Babenco's "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985) that shot the actor into the A-list stratosphere. A harrowing tale of Molina's experiences while incarcerated in a Latin American prison, Hurt's portrayal won him top honors from BAFTA, the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awarded Hurt the Oscar for Best Actor in a Dramatic Performance. Hot off his win, Hurt's career reached its zenith with his next picture, "Children of a Lesser God" (1986), an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway play. In it, Hurt played James Leeds, a newly hired speech teacher at a school for the deaf, who, against his better judgment, falls for one of his pupils, Sarah Norman (played by real-life hearing-impaired actress Marlee Matlin). A commercial and critical hit, "Children of a Lesser God" earned 10 Academy Award nominations, including one each for both leads. While Matlin turned up a winner that night, Hurt wound up losing his statuette in an upset to Paul Newman for "The Color of Money" (1986). Still, all was not lost. Though Hurt did not win the award, he took home his own Oscar winner - namely, his "Children" co-star and live-in girlfriend, Marlee Matlin.
Still on a roll the following year, the actor made it three-for-three with his refreshingly comic turn in director James L. Brooks' "Broadcast News" (1987). In it, he played Tom Grunick, the dense but photogenic newscaster who finds himself wedged in a romantic triangle between neurotic TV producer Holly Hunter and the less camera-ready but smart reporter, Albert Brooks. The next year, Hurt returned to his well-worn "reticent everyman" persona to play the withdrawn, emotionally reluctant travel writer, Macon Leary, in another well-received hit, "The Accidental Tourist" (1988). Ironically, Hurt would be equally well known for roles that he did not accept. For instance, he passed on the part of author-turned-hostage, Paul Sheldon, in the excellent 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's "Misery" - a job which ultimately went to James Caan. Hurt also turned down a shot to star in one of the top box office champions of all time, Steven Spielberg's mammoth blockbuster, "Jurassic Park" (1993).
As he approached middle age, Hurt retained his sinewy physique, but his blond mane had visibly thinned. Ironically enough, the weathering effects of old age had a surprising effect on the actor. Wearing the scuff of time like a comfortable, tailor-made suit, Hurt made a clean transition to playing character roles. Bringing along his usual breezy intellectualism to such figures as Rochester in the 1996 remake of "Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre," Hurt hit the mark again as a cynical tabloid reporter who gets a visit from a supposed angel in Nora Ephron's "Michael" (1996). In the late 1990s, he returned to the world of sci-fi for the first time in 16 years with two back-to-back projects; the first being "Dark City" (1998), a muddled crime drama in which he played a corrupt police investigator, followed by the highly anticipated feature version of "Lost in Space" (1998). Hurt finally rounded out the decade with a standout performance as an impotent lawyer whose wife takes a lover to impregnate her in the 1998 weeper, "The Proposition."
With the dawn of the new millennium, Hurt continued to accept a diverse range of parts. Returning once again to the genre that started his movie career, Hurt took supporting roles in the Sci Fi Channel original miniseries, "Dune" (2000), followed by a role in the Steven Spielberg-Stanley Kubrick futuristic Pinocchio fable, "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" (2001). Hurt later appeared as the community patriarch and father of blind Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) in writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's tense, but disappointing thriller, "The Village" (2004). In 2005, Hurt made an unforgettable third act cameo in director David Cronenberg's masterful drama, "A History of Violence" (2005), a performance which showed off his villainous side. Using this dark angle to good effect, Hurt played another baddie in his next picture, the disturbing psychological thriller, "Mr. Brooks" (2007) starring Kevin Costner as a serial killer in rehab. This time, Hurt played the Marshall, sadistic alter ego of Costner's eponymous lead character, who rides around the city in Costner's car, egging the sadistic Mr. Brooks to kill again.
Because of his ability to perform in just about any capacity, Hurt continued landing a diversity of roles in films both big and small. In "Into the Wild" (2007), Sean Penn's acclaimed, but unfortunately ignored adaptation of Jon Krakauer's popular non-fiction novel, Hurt played the worried father of a young Virginian man (Emile Hirsch) who casts off the shackles of modern society to live off the land in Alaska, only to fall prey to Mother Nature. He next co-starred in the political thriller, "Vantage Point" (2008), playing the President of the United States, whose assassination in Spain is recounted differently by several witnesses, until the final shocking truth behind the attempt is revealed. He then co-starred in "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), playing the nemesis of Bruce Banner (Edward Norton), General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, who heads the military machinery determined to capture The Hulk and exploit his power. Ever the busy actor, Hurt branched into series work, signing on to join the cast of the legal drama "Damages" (FX, 2007-10) for a season-long arc opposite his "Big Chill" co-star, Glenn Close. Hurt played Daniel Purcell, a brilliant, but disturbed scientist whose life and livelihood are put in jeopardy by the company he works for after he threatens to expose their criminal misconduct. His subtle and complicated performance earned him Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Emmy Awards and Golden Globes in 2009.
Hurt turned in a fine performance in the made-for-television movie, "Endgame" (PBS, 2009), playing a South African professor who befriends future president Thabo Mbeki (Chiwetel Ejiofor) during the secret talks that helped end apartheid. He next played the demanding 17th century father of a young nobleman (Daniel Brühl), whom he commands to break off his engagement with an older woman (Julie Delpy) in the period romantic drama, "The Countess" (2009). Hurt was cast by director Ridley Scott in yet another version of "Robin Hood" (2010), which starred Russell Crowe as the titular outlaw and Cate Blanchett as the Lady Marian. Hurt played real life soldier and statesman William Marshal, who faithfully served four kings to become one of the greatest knights who ever lived. Meanwhile, he returned to the small screen as part of the all-star cast of the made-for-cable movie "Too Big to Fail" (HBO, 2011), which chronicled the people and events involved in the 2008 financial meltdown. Hurt played former Treasury Secretary Henry "Hank" Paulson, who engineered a series of government bailouts with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (Paul Giamatti) in an effort to preserve the failed banking industry and in effect prevent a global economic catastrophe. Hurt's performance was hailed by critics and earned the decorated actor an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1972
Briefly spent time on a sheep farm in Australia
1975
Joined Oregon Shakespeare Festival
1976
New York stage debut, "Henry V" for New York Shakespeare Festival
1977
Became member of off-Broadway Circle Repertory Theatre
1977
Appeared on PBS series "The Best of Families" for Children's Television Workshop
1978
TV movie debut "Verna: USO Girl" for PBS "Great Performances"
1980
Made feature acting debut in leading role of "Altered States"
1981
First film with writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, "Body Heat" co-starring Kathleen Turner
1983
Acted in all-star ensemble drama "The Big Chill"; second collaboration with Kasdan
1984
Created the role of Eddie in David Rabe's off-Broadway play "Hurlyburly"; also played role on Broadway
1985
Offered award-winning performance opposite Raúl Juliá in "Kiss of the Spider Woman"
1986
Portrayed a teacher at a school for the hearing-impaired in "Children of a Lesser God"
1987
Played a shallow TV newscaster in James L. Brooks' "Broadcast News"
1988
Reunited with Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Turner for "The Accidental Tourist"
1989
Returned to Circle Rep to play leading role in off-Broadway comedy-drama "Beside Herself"
1990
Cast in Woody Allen's "Alice" as Mia Farrow's husband
1990
Played supporting role in Kasdan directed "I Love You to Death"
1991
First non-U.S. production, Wim Wenders' "Until the End of the World"
1992
First film with Sandrine Bonnaire, "The Plague"
1995
Won praise for his turn in independent film "Smoke"
1996
Played a cynical tabloid reporter in "Michael"
1998
Co-starred with Meryl Streep and Renee Zellweger in "One True Thing"
1998
Headed cast of feature adaptation of TV series "Lost in Space"
2000
Starred as Duke Leto Atreides in Sci Fi Channel miniseries "Frank Herbert's Dune"
2000
Portrayed a Communist flunky in "Sunshine"
2001
Cast as a scientist in Steven Spielberg's "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence"
2002
Appeared as Samuel L. Jackson's AA sponsor in "Changing Lanes"
2002
Portrayed Angus Tuck in family feature "Tuck Everlasting"
2004
Starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Sigourney Weaver in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"
2005
Co-starred with George Clooney and Matt Damon in geopolitical thriller "Syriana"
2005
Starred with Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello in David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence"
2006
Co-starred with Gael GarcÃa Bernal in "The King," a low-budget American film by British documentary-maker James Marsh
2006
Played a CIA director opposite Matt Damon in Robert De Niro's "The Good Shepherd"
2007
Portrayed Kevin Costner's alter-ego in thriller "Mr. Brooks"
2007
Played the father of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) in Sean Penn's adaptation of non-fiction book "Into the Wild"
2008
Cast as Betty Ross' father General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross in "The Incredible Hulk"
2008
Cast as the U.S. president in the Rashomon-style assassination thriller "Vantage Point"
2009
Joined second season of FX's "Damages" as the new client of attorney Patty Hewes (Glenn Close)
2010
Cast opposite Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's adaptation of "Robin Hood"
2011
Portrayed U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson in HBO adaptation of Andrew Ross Sorkin's book "Too Big To Fail"
2013
Cast opposite Saoirse Ronan in sci-fi romance "The Host," adapted from novel by Stephenie Meyer
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