Hollywood mourns the loss of a great actor: he had his international breakthrough with “The Spider Woman’s Kiss”. He won an Oscar for best actor. Now William Hurt is dead.
The US actor William Hurt is dead. The actor known from films like “The Great Frustration” and “A History of Violence” died at the age of 71, US media reported on Sunday, citing Hurt’s son Will.
The Oscar winner died of natural causes “peacefully surrounded by his family” a week before his 72nd birthday. William Hurt was diagnosed with end-stage prostate cancer in May 2018. The son did not say in his statement whether the actor succumbed to his cancer.
“He can play any role he wants”
Hurt started his acting career in the 80’s and kept playing unusual characters.
“He can play any role he wants,” Hollywood producer Alan Ladd Jr. told Rolling Stone about Hurt in 1981. “He’s a great character actor, but let’s face it, he’s a leading man.”
He received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a gay prisoner in the 1985 film The Kiss of the Spider Woman. In the two years that followed, he was again nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his roles in the drama film God’s Forgotten Children and the comedy Broadcast News.
Many colleagues express sorrow at William Hurt’s death
A number of well-known colleagues in Hollywood, actors, journalists and producers said goodbye to the actor on social networks.
Albert Brooks, who starred alongside Hurt in the comedy, expressed his sadness on Twitter: “Rep William Hurt. So sad to hear this news. Working with him on Broadcast News has been fantastic. He will be great be missed.”
Australian actor Russell Crowe wrote of his collaboration with Hurt: “With Robin Hood, I knew he was known for asking character-related questions, so I had put together a dossier on the life of William Marshall. He came to see me when he arrived on location. I handed him the stack. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a bigger smile.”
Screenwriter Stephen King called Hurt an “outstanding actor” on Twitter. “I loved hitchhiking on Hurt’s success,” King wrote.
