William Hurt, whose self-assured subtlety as an actor made him one of the 1980s foremost leading men in movies such as Broadcast News, Body Heat, and The Big Chill, has died at 71. Hurt was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2018 and his death was attributed to natural causes.
His son Will said in a statement: “It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar-winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday. He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes.”
Hurt was nominated for four Oscars over the course of his long career, scoring two best actor nominations for Broadcast News and Children of a Lesser God.
In later years, Hurt transitioned from leading man to supporting roles where he was nominated for another Academy Award, as best supporting actor, for A History of Violence (2005) with just less than 10 minutes of screen time.
In recent years, Hurt became well known to the younger generation with his portrayal of the no-nonsense General Thaddeus Ross in the Marvel franchise and had worked more in television, including the FX series Damages, which scored him an Emmy nomination.
Hurt was born March 20, 1950, in Washington, D.C and went on to attend Tufts University, where he studied theology, before moving to Juilliard to study acting.
His first major film role was in Ken Russell’s sci-fi thriller Altered States in 1980, playing the lead role as a troubled scientist, a notable entry in the body horror genre. Later that year came the steamy Body Heat with Kathleen Turner that transformed both performers into major stars.
In 1986, Hurt won an Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of a gay window dresser in Hector Babenco’s Kiss of the Spider Woman. At the time Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun Times, praised Hurt’s work, crediting him with creating “... a character utterly unlike anyone else he has ever played – a frankly theatrical character, exaggerated and mannered – and yet he never seems to be reaching for effects.”
