Actor William Hurtha has died at the age of 71. The interpreter won the Oscar for best leading actor in 1985 for the film "Kiss of the Spider Woman" as a homosexual prisoner during the military dictatorship in Brazil. For that daring role that Hurt made very much his own (he played Luis Molina as a trans woman after frequenting many gay bars), he was also recognized by the Cannes Film Festival and the British Film Academy Awards. Hurt, from what he told at the time, gave up his salary to make the Brazilian film – also nominated for an Oscar in the big category.
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Another generation will remember him for his participation in Marvel superhero movies starring The Avengers such as 'The Incredible Hulk' (Hurt was already a fan of the character), 'Captain America: Civil War' and the recently released 'Black Widow'; in these 'blockbusters' played a US Army general who ends up being Secretary of State.
He worked with filmmakers of the stature of Woody Allen ('Alice') and Steven Spielberg ('AI Artificial Intelligence'), and in his last years he moved to television, where he participated in series such as 'Damage and damages' (2009), where he played has a scientist. Her last work released on the small screen was in the fourth and final season of 'Goliath' (Amazon). He is awaiting the premiere of the animated series 'Pantheon', where he provided his voice.
One of William Hurt's sons (he had four with three women; he was divorced) has confirmed the actor's death: "With great sadness, the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar-winning actor, on 13 March 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday. He died peacefully, along with his family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”
Born in Washington on March 23, 1950, he spent his childhood between New York, London and Boston (years later, as an actor, he had to reproduce the British and Boston accents, even more difficult). He studied acting at the prestigious Juilliard School in the New York capital, and saw his first acting weapons in different regional theater companies.
In 1980 he made his film debut with the science fiction film 'An amazing journey to the back of the mind', as a psychophysiologist. It was a year later when his luck changed after being chosen to star, along with Kathleen Turner, in the erotic thriller 'Fire in the body', with high-voltage scenes that gave a lot to talk about at the time.
Kathleen Turner and William Hurt, in the erotic thriller 'Fire in the Body' (1981)
He continued with works such as 'Reencuentro' and 'Gorky Park', before starring in the 1985 film 'El beso de la mujer spider', based on the homonymous novel by Argentine Manuel Puig, with whom William Hurt stayed before his death. Directed by Héctor Babenco, Hurt shared the poster with Sonia Braga and Raúl Juliá, to whom Hurt decided his Oscar. His portrayal of a homosexual window dresser imprisoned in an Argentine prison during the dictatorship earned him an Oscar for best leading actor, as well as the British Academy of Film and Cannes Film Festival awards in the same category.
William Hurt played a homosexual prisoner in 'Kiss of the Spider Woman', a role for which he won the Oscar for best actor
The eighties were the most outstanding in his career, with films like 'Children of a minor god' (1986), as a speech therapist teacher who falls in love with the deaf janitor where, and 'Al filo de la noticia' (1987), as presenter of New Arrival News, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and 'The Accidental Tourist' (1988), where he once again coincided with Kathleen Turner.
William Hurt played an attractive orator in 'Edge of the news' (1987), for which he was nominated for an Oscar
After this stage, he tried to look for works that were more in demand from the interpretive point of view, without worrying that they would have popular repercussions. He hung on like this for a long time, choosing roles that challenged his acting ability. Hurt has also regularly acted in movies and television miniseries.
Could have starred in 'Jurassic Park' and 'Misery'
In 1993 Dr. Alan Grant was offered the role in Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park', but turned it down without having read the script (he ended up being played by Sam Neill). A few years earlier, he also turned down starring in 'Misery', a film adaptation of Stephen King's novel in which a writer is kidnapped by a fan (Kathy Bates).
Eighteen years after his third Oscar nomination, he was nominated again for his brief but intense appearance in 'A History of Violence' (2005), an adaptation of the homonymous comic by David Cronenberg, in which he plays a boss of the boston mafia William Hurt was one of those who believed that there was no small role for an actor.
His latest works have been 'Avengers: Infinity War' (2018), 'With all honors' and 'Avengers: Endgame' (2019), 'Black Widow' (2021) and 'The King's Daughter' (released in 2022, but shot in 2014).
