John Hurt dead at 77
- Thread starter saxon
- Start date
This isn't a surprise, he was diagnosed with pancriatic cancer two years ago.
He made his screen debut in A Man For All Seasons, then played the definitive Caligula in I Claudius. After that he switched from being a BBC stalwart into feature films. Unjustly overlooked by the Oscars for Midnight Express. His list of great performances is almost too numerous to keep track of. Huge influence on Daniel Day Lewis and Gary Oldman. One of the greats.
He made his screen debut in A Man For All Seasons, then played the definitive Caligula in I Claudius. After that he switched from being a BBC stalwart into feature films. Unjustly overlooked by the Oscars for Midnight Express. His list of great performances is almost too numerous to keep track of. Huge influence on Daniel Day Lewis and Gary Oldman. One of the greats.
agreed iv, should have won for 'midnight express'. was great in 'the field' too, as was harris.
One of Hurt's first movies was a gem called 10 Rillington Place. It's the true story of the Christie-Evans murder case in England, which led to the abolition of the death penalty in the U.K. Hurt played Evans, who was hung for the murder of his wife, only later the authorities discovered she had actually been murdered by Christie, a twisted serial killer played superbly by Richard Attenborough. Hurt matches Attenborough's brilliance by playing a none-to-bright, pathetic victim of Christie's manipulatios. Great atmosphere of post-war London.
It's based on a true story of a banker in Toronto who embezzled $10M to feed his gambling addiction. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the banker, John Hurt is the casino owner in Atlantic City. Both gave tremendous performances.
Goddammit, I know about that story. I think I bought a copied DVD of it or saw part of it on TV. I need to see it again.
