Sir John Vincent Hurt CBE (January 22, 1940 – January 25, 2017) was an Academy Award-nominated English actor who played Kane in the 1979 film Alien, replacing Jon Finch. He also narrated the 2002 documentary The Alien Saga. Other notable films Hurt appeared in include The Elephant Man (1980), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), Hellboy (2004), An Englishman in New York (2009), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and several films in the Harry Potter series. Owing to his distinctive rich voice, he also enjoyed a successful voice acting career in films and television.
Hurt was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Actor for The Elephant Man, Best Supporting Actor for Midnight Express), and won a Golden Globe and four BAFTAs. His demise in Alien has consistently been named as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.[1] For his role in the film, he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. In 2015, Hurt was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his "services to drama".
Alongside Veronica Cartwright, Dan O'Bannon, Terry Rawlings, Ridley Scott, Ronald Shusett, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, and Sigourney Weaver, Hurt won the DVD Exclusive Award for Best Audio Commentary (new for DVD) for Alien.[2]
Hurt passed away on January 25, 2017 from pancreatic cancer, three days after his 77th birthday.
Awards and Nominations[]
Year | Film | Notes |
---|---|---|
1979 | Alien | Nominated — BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor |
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1962 | The Wild and the Willing | |
1964 | This Is My Street | |
1966 | A Man for All Seasons | |
1967 | The Sailor from Gibraltar | |
1969 | In Search of Gregory | |
Sinful Davey | ||
Before Winter Comes | ||
1971 | Mr. Forbush and the Penguins | |
10 Rillington Place | ||
1972 | The Pied Piper | |
1974 | Little Malcolm | |
1975 | The Ghoul | |
La Linea del Fiume | ||
1977 | East of Elephant Rock | |
Three Dangerous Ladies | ||
The Disappearance | ||
1978 | Watership Down | |
The Shout | ||
Midnight Express | ||
The Lord of the Rings | ||
1979 | Alien | |
1980 | The Elephant Man | |
Heaven's Gate | With William H. Burton, Jr. and Brad Dourif | |
1981 | Night Crossing | |
History of the World, Part I | ||
1982 | Partners | With James Remar |
The Plague Dogs | With Percy Edwards | |
1983 | The Osterman Weekend | |
1984 | Champions | |
Success Is the Best Revenge | ||
The Hit | ||
Nineteen Eighty-Four | ||
1985 | After Darkness | |
The Black Cauldron | ||
1986 | Jake Speed | |
1987 | The Hunting of the Snark | |
Rocinante | ||
From the Hip | ||
Spaceballs | ||
Aria | ||
Vincent | ||
White Mischief | With Charles Dance | |
1988 | The Bengali Night | |
1989 | Scandal | With Ralph Brown and Leon Herbert |
Little Sweetheart | ||
1990 | Romeo-Juliet | |
Windprints | ||
The Field | ||
Frankenstein Unbound | With Nick Gillard | |
1991 | I Dreamt I Woke Up | |
King Ralph | ||
1992 | Lapse of Memory | |
1993 | Kölcsönkapott idő | |
L'Oeil qui Ment | ||
Monolith | With John Cann, Bill Paxton and David St. James | |
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues | ||
1994 | Rabbit Ears: Aladdin and the Magic Lamp | |
Thumbelina | ||
Second Best | ||
1995 | Two Nudes Bathing | |
Saigon Baby | ||
Rob Roy | With Nick Gillard and Trevor Steedman | |
Dead Man | With Lance Henriksen and Michael Wincott | |
Wild Bill | With Michael Papajohn and James Remar | |
1997 | Tender Loving Care | |
Love and Death on Long Island | With Danny Webb | |
Contact | With Jake Busey, David St. James and Tom Skerritt | |
Bandyta | With Pete Postlethwaite | |
1998 | The Commissioner | |
Night Train | ||
All the Little Animals | ||
1999 | The Climb | |
New Blood | ||
A Monkey's Tale | ||
If... Dog... Rabbit... | ||
You're Dead... | ||
2000 | The Tigger Movie | With Peter Cullen |
Lost Souls | With Winona Ryder | |
2001 | Tabloid | |
Captain Corelli's Mandolin | ||
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | ||
2002 | Crime and Punishment | With Ron Perlman |
The Alien Saga | ||
Miranda | ||
2003 | Owning Mahowny | |
Meeting Che Guevera & the Man from Maybury Hill | ||
Dogville | ||
2004 | Hellboy | With Pavel Bezdek, Corey Johnson, Ron Perlman and Brian Steele |
Pride | ||
2005 | Short Order | |
Valiant | ||
The Proposition | With Guy Pearce | |
Shooting Dogs | ||
Manderlay | With Clive Curtis and Danny Glover | |
The Skeleton Key | ||
2006 | V for Vendetta | With Joseph Rye |
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | ||
2007 | Boxes | |
2008 | Outlander | With Ron Perlman |
The Oxford Murders | With Dominique Pinon | |
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | ||
Hellboy II: The Golden Army | With Ron Perlman and Brian Steele | |
Lecture 21 | ||
2009 | The Limits of Control | |
New York, I Love You | ||
44 Inch Chest | ||
2010 | Lou | |
Ultramarines: The Movie | ||
Brighton Rock | With Phil Davis and Sean Harris | |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 | With C. C. Smiff and Ian Whyte | |
2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 | With Clive Curtis and C. C. Smiff |
In Love with Alma Cogan | ||
Melancholia | ||
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy | ||
Immortals | ||
2012 | Jayne Mansfield's Car | |
Sightseers | Uncredited | |
2013 | Charlie Countryman | |
Only Lovers Left Alive | ||
Snowpiercer | With Ewen Bremner | |
More Than Honey | ||
Benjamin Britten: Peace and Conflict | ||
2014 | Hercules | With Christopher Fairbank, Vladimir "Furdo" Furdik and Ian Whyte |
2015 | The Absinthe Drinkers | |
2016 | Jackie |
Documentary Appearances[]
- HBO First Look: Alien Resurrection - Behind the Scenes
- The Beast Within: Making Alien
- Memory: The Origins of Alien
Trivia[]
- Over the course of his career, Hurt has worked with at least one cast member from every film in the combined Alien, Predator and Alien vs. Predator franchises; he is the only cast member from the series to achieve this feat.
- Hurt is the only actor from Alien not to reprise his role in Alien: Isolation or its DLC in any form; Ash actor Ian Holm lent his likeness to the game but not his voice, which was instead provided by Dave B. Mitchell.
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Sources that refer to the final scene of Hurt's character in Alien being consistently named as one of the most memorable in cinematic history include:
- BBC News (April 26, 2007). "Alien named as top 18-rated scene". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on May 31, 2010.
- Kermode, Mark. "All fright on the night", The Guardian, October 19, 2003. Retrieved on [[February 1, 2010]].
- "Scariest movie scenes ever". Virgin Media. Retrieved on January 18, 2010.
- Green, Graeme. "John Hurt talks Harry Potter, flamenco and chestbursters". Metro. Retrieved on January 18, 2010.
- "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments". Bravo. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved on May 29, 2010.
- "The making of Alien's chestburster scene", The Guardian, October 13, 2009. Retrieved on [[January 18, 2010]].
- ↑ Justin Case, 3rd Annual DVD Exclusive Awards honors THE TWO TOWERS!, MovieWeb, December 3, 2003.