Oscar Winning Actor, William Hurt dies at 71

American actor William Hurt, known for much-loved films such as “The Big Chill” and “A History of Violence,” has died at the age of 71.

Local media reported that Hurt’s son, Will, announced his death 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.”

The actor had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in May 2018, but his son’s statement did not specify whether the disease contributed to Hurt’s passing.

Hurt built his reputation on his willingness to play quirky and unusual characters such as a Russian police officer in “Gorky Park” (1983), a wealthy and aloof husband in Woody Allen’s “Alice” (1990) and a man seeking to build a machine that would benefit blind people in “Until the End of the World” (1991).

His first film role was as an obsessed scientist in Ken Russell’s 1980 film “Altered States.” Appearing opposite Kathleen Turner in Body Heat in 1981 turned him into a sex symbol, and he won the best actor Oscar in 1985 for playing a gay prisoner in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

Hurt was also nominated for Oscars as a teacher of deaf students in “Children of a Lesser God” (1986) and as a slow-witted television anchorman in “Broadcast News” (1987).

For his second Academy Award, Hurt played a Philadelphia mobster in David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence.” He appears in the film for only about 10 minutes, but he made a huge impact with critics, who praised his “creepy” and “funny” character.

Hurt had three consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations in the mid-1980s for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) — for which he also won Best Actor at the BAFTAs and the Cannes Film Festival — Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). He later snagged a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for A History of Violence.

He later earned Emmy nominations for Too Big to Fail in 2011 and Damages in 2009.

Hurt was also an active stage actor during the 1980s, appeared in Off-Broadway productions and receiving his first Tony Award nomination in 1985 for the Broadway production of Hurlyburly.

Deadline/Hauwa Abu