Best Known As: Star of the movie Kiss of the Spider Woman
A cerebral leading man and offbeat character actor, William Hurt was one of the more distinctive Hollywood stars of the 1980s. Hurt won an Oscar for his leading role as a story-spinning prisoner in the 1985 film version of Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman (with Raul Julia), but he is more fondly remembered for his starmaking turns in two films by Lawrence Kasdan: the sexy noir thriller Body Heat (with Hurt as a big lug seduced by Kathleen Turner) and the nostalgic baby boomer flick The Big Chill (with Hurt as a disillusioned Vietnam vet). He was also nominated for Oscars for his work in Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). With his long jaw and thinning sandy hair, Hurt often played ambitious characters who were by turns earnest, sensitive and hot-headed. in the 1990s he was less prominent, though he played Rochester in Jane Eyre (1996, with Charlotte Gainsbourg as Jane) and galactic explorer John Robinson in the big-budget Lost in Space (1998, with Mimi Rogers). In 2006 Hurt was again nominated for an Oscar, this time for the small role of a Philadelphia gangster who tangles with Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence.
Hurt graduated from Tufts University in 1972 and studied at the Julliard School from 1972-75... He was married to actress Mary Beth Hurt (formerly Mary Beth Supinger) from 1971-81.
Born: Mar 20, 1950 in Washington, District Of Columbia
Occupation: Actor
Active: '80s-2000s
Major Genres: Drama, Thriller
Career Highlights: The Accidental Tourist, The Big Chill, Altered States
First Major Screen Credit: Altered States (1980)
Biography
One of the top leading men of the '80s, William Hurt is notable for his intensity and effective portrayals of complex characters. Although born in Washington, D.C., Hurt had already seen much of the world by the time he was grown, as his father worked for the State Department. His early years spent in the South Pacific near Guam, Hurt moved to Manhattan with his mother after his parents divorced when he was six years old. He spent the summers with his father, vacationing in a variety of international locales, including Sudan. At the age of ten, Hurt's life again changed dramatically when he became a stepson to Henry Luce III, the heir to the Time-Life empire. His mother's second marriage indirectly led to Hurt's initial involvement with the theater: sent away to a boarding school in Massachusetts, he found comfort in acting.
After going on to Tufts University to study theology for three years at his stepfather's urging, Hurt married aspiring actress Mary Beth Supinger and followed her to London to study drama. Upon their return to the U.S., Hurt studied drama at Juilliard. By this time, under the realization that his marriage was failing, Hurt divorced his wife, got a motorcycle, and headed cross country for the Shakespeare festival in Ashland, OR, where he made his professional debut in a production of Hamlet. He later joined New York's Circle Repertory Company, and went on to receive critical acclaim for his work on the New York stage.
Hurt made his feature film debut in Ken Russell's Altered States in 1980, but it was not until he appeared opposite Kathleen Turner in Body Heat (1981) that he became a star and sex symbol. Four years later, he won Best Actor Oscar and British Academy awards as well as a similar honor at Cannes for his sensitive portrayal of a gay prisoner in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). He was again nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his two subsequent films, Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). Further success followed in 1988 when he starred in The Accidental Tourist.
As bright as his star shone on stage and screen, by the end of the '80s, a darker side of Hurt was exposed when he was sued by his former live-in love and mother of his daughter Alex, ballet dancer Sandra Jennings, who claimed to be his common-law wife. Despite his personal problems, Hurt continued to stay relatively busy, beginning the new decade with a fine turn in Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World (1991). He subsequently appeared in such acclaimed films as Smoke (1995), Jane Eyre (1996), One True Thing (1998), and Dark City (1998). In 1998, Hurt appeared as the patriarch of one of televisions most beloved sci-fi families in the big-budgeted remake of Lost in Space, and as a gubernatorial candidate with a shadowy past in George Hickenlooper's political drama The Big Brass Ring (1999).
Still alternating between stage and screen into the new millennium, Hurt stuck mainly to the small screen in the next few years. After lending his voice to the animated portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ in The Miracle Maker, appearing in the mini-series Dune, and taking the title role of The Contaminated Man in 2000, Hurt returned to features with his role in director Steven Spielberg's long anticipated (post-mortem) collaboration with the late Stanley Kubrick, A.I. As the well-intending scientist who sets the story of an artificial boy capable of learning and love into motion, Hurt's character seemed to provide the antithesis of the regressive experiments his previous character had flirted with in Altered States. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Hurt was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Claire Isabel (née McGill), who worked at Time, Inc.,[1] and Alfred McCord Hurt, who worked for the U.S. State Department. His parents divorced, and his mother married Henry Luce III (the son of the founder of Time Magazine) during Hurt's childhood. Hurt graduated from Middlesex School in 1968 where he was vice president of the Dramatics Club and had the lead role in several of the school plays. His high school yearbook predicted, "With characteristics such as these, you might even see him on Broadway." Hurt attended Tufts University and studied theology, but turned instead to acting and joined the Juilliard Drama School studying alongside Christopher Reeve. He has received the nickname "bojangles" from several of his classmates at Juilliard.
Often cast as an intellectual, Hurt has put this to good use in many films like Lost in Space and The Big Chill, but he is also effective in other kinds of roles, such as those in I Love You to Death, and David Cronenberg's psychological drama A History of Violence (2005), wherein, with less than 10 minutes of screen time, he plays the creepy mob boss Richie Cusack. That same year, Hurt could be seen as a mysterious government operative in Stephen Gaghan's ensemble drama about the politics of big oil, Syriana.
Hurt has been seen in the mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes, in a piece entitled Battleground. He plays "Renshaw", a hitman who receives a package from the widow of a toymaker he killed, unaware of what is waiting inside for him. [also notable for its complete lack of dialogue] He appeared in the cast of "Vanya", an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya playing in the Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon.[2]
In 2009, Hurt began appearing as a series regular on the critically-acclaimed FX series Damages playing a corporate whistleblower opposite Glenn Close and Marcia Gay Harden. For his role in the series, Hurt earned a 2009Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category.
Personal life
Hurt is fluent in French and maintains a home outside Paris. He was previously married to Mary Beth Hurt from 1971 to 1982.
In the 1980s, Hurt was involved in a lawsuit with Sandra Jennings which alleged that the two shared a common law marriage.[3] While he was still married, Hurt and Jennings began a relationship in Saratoga, New York in the summer of 1981.[3] Jennings became pregnant in the Spring of 1982 which precipitated Hurt's divorce from Mary Beth Hurt, after which Hurt and Jennings relocated to South Carolina, which recognized common law marriages.[3] Hurt and Jennings, never officially married, later separated, and Jennings sued in New York, seeking a court order recognizing their purported common law marriage under South Carolina law.[3] The New York court, which did not recognize common law marriage and was reluctant to recognize a common law marriage originating in South Carolina, found in Hurt's favor that no common law marriage existed.[3]
Additionally, Hurt dated Marlee Matlin for two years, and they lived together during 1986. In her 2009 autobiographical book, I'll Scream Later, Matlin claimed their relationship involved considerable drug abuse and physical abuse by Hurt.[4] In response to the accusations aired on CNN on April 13, 2009, Hurt's agent declined to respond. Hurt issued a statement on April 14, 2009, responding to Matlin's remarks. He stated "My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we have both grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good."[5]
Hurt has four children: Jeanne with actress Sandrine Bonnaire, Alex with Sandra Jennings and two sons, Sam and William Hurt, from his 1989-92 marriage to Heidi Henderson.
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