By Shirley Farmer 
American actor William Hurt, who marked the world of cinema, especially in the 80s, has died at the age of 71. His son Will confirmed in a statement the news of his death.
“It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of beloved Father William Hurt and Academy Award winning actor, on March 13, 2022, a week before his 72nd birthday. He passed away peacefully among his family of natural causes.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the artist passed away at his home in Portland, Oregon. Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who worked with him on the 1996 film Jane Eyre, described him as “the most complex actor I’ve ever worked with.” but why?
During his career, the artist was nominated four times for Oscars. The first, in 1986, earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor, with O Beijo da Mulher Aranha, for Argentine-Brazilian director Hector Babenko, in which he played a gay man sentenced to a Brazilian prison during the military dictatorship.
This was also followed by the same nomination in James L.’s special edition of Randa Haines’ God Minor, a film that gave life to a deaf student teacher. In 2005 Hurt was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor for his role in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, playing a role unlike any he had previously earned nominations for: an Irish mob boss from Philadelphia.
From theater to the seventh art Born in Washington in 1950, his father worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) which led young William to travel and live in places like Pakistan, Sudan or Somalia.
The artist studied theology at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, however, he ended up choosing an acting path. In 1972, he ended up enrolling at the famous Julliard Art School, in New York, and made his first appearance specifically in theatrical productions, winning his first Off-Broadway Award in 1977 and the World Theater General Award that followed.
His first big screen appearance came with the role of a maniac scientist in Ken Russell’s Crazy Trips (1980). The following year, he starred in The Eyes of the Witness and also in Hot Nights, a production that ended up making him and Kathleen Turner sex icons and stars, and also launched the career of director and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan. His debut caused quite a stir at the time and the fame he gained from this movie made him a huge star in the 80s.
After becoming a “Soviet” agent at The Gorky Park Mystery, in 1983, William entered what was seen as the heyday of his life, with Friends of Alex, directed by Kasdan again alongside names like Tom Berenger and Glenn Close and Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Klein. The film centers on a group of seven friends in their thirties who were college roommates in the ’60s who are reunited after years of separation at the funeral of Alex, a brilliant student who committed suicide. After the ceremony, they take the opportunity to make up for lost time and discover that they have lost the radicalism and lack of respect that characterized them in their youth. Soon after came Kiss of the Spider Woman, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Troubled Relationships Hurt was first married to actress Mary Beth Hurt from 1971 to 1982. During their marriage, according to ABCNews, he began an affair with Sandra Jennings, an extramarital affair that ended with the termination of their marriage. But after six years, this relationship will also end. In 1989, during a media divorce, his ex-partner, Sandra Jennings, painted a very “black” portrait of the star. According to her, Hurt was a “violent drunkard and prone to religious hallucinations.” Furthermore, Jennings also claimed that the artist once peed on the sofa in his house.
Hurt told The New York Times in 1983, “Acting is a very private and intimate thing. The art of acting requires just as much solitude as the art of writing. Yes, you bump into other people, but you have to learn a craft, a technique. Something strange is that my acting is a cry In order to take care of myself, I need so much love or so much attention that I would give up my right to be a special person.”
After that, it seems, Hurt continued to have turbulent relations. When he was 35 years old, he started a relationship with actress Marley Matlin. The couple met in preparation for the movie Children of a Lesser God, where they played the heroes who ended up having a romantic relationship. It was Matlin’s film debut. The actress was 19 years old at the time and became the first (and so far only) deaf person to win an Oscar for acting.
According to the actress, who wrote the details in her autobiography I’ll Scream Later, published in 2009, she was physically and psychologically abused for nearly two years, during which time they lived together. “I had new bruises every day or a cracked lip. A lot of not-so-good things have happened,” Matlin told Access Hollywood in an interview about these memories!
I was always afraid of him, but I loved him! Or he might have thought so… But you have to keep in mind that I am 19 and he was 35,” he added. At the time of publication, the actor issued an apology that read, “What I remember is that we apologized and we both did our best to heal our lives,” as He wrote, wishing the actress “all the best.”
In those years, William also “battled” with drug and alcohol abuse and attended rehabilitation clinics. In addition, he gained a good reputation for not always being an “easy contributor”. The American magazine The New Yorker even called him a “notorious temper”. In 1989, Hurt married Heidi Henderson, whom he met in rehab. The couple had two children together. In addition to these, Hurt gave birth to a daughter with French actress and director Sandrine Bonnier in 1992.
“Tough” actor After the blistering tour of the 1980s, Hurt became increasingly unpopular among filmmakers in the 1990s, and some have argued this was due to his reputation. However, Hurt continued to defend himself, telling the Los Angeles Times in 1994, “I give more to the solution of truth than the satisfaction of easy expectations and hopes,” he admitted. “If a director asks me to make the audience think or feel a certain thing, I am immediately disgusted,” Hurt said. Moreover, my only duty is to present the truth of the play. He stressed regarding the accusations, I do not owe anything to anyone, including the director.
Since 2008, the year of the release of The Incredible Hulk, the artist has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in the role of general and later Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. It was followed by Captain America: Civil War in 2016, Avengers: Infinity War two years later, Avengers: Endgame in 2019, and Black Widow last year, which was his last. His journey did not pass only through theater or cinema. On television, he has been involved in works such as the mini-series Dune, an adaptation of Frank Herbert from 2000.
In 2014, Hurt witnessed one of the worst accidents in history. The artist was bringing the character of Greg Allman to life in director Randall Miller’s American biographical drama, when a train crashes into the group in rural Georgia, killing assistant cameraman Sarah Jones and injuring several others. The actor later said that he “repeatedly expressed concern that the cast and crew, laden with equipment, would be safely on the stand should a train arrive” and that he was assured by AD Hillary Schwartz that “all requirements have been met”. Safety rules”.
He later revealed the incident, “It is the sadness of my professional life and one of the greatest sorrows of my personal life.” “It was simply impossible to imagine that something like this could happen. I could have walked away when I felt something wasn’t right, but it was our first day with a team I had worked with before.” Shortly after the accident, Miller attempted to proceed with production, but Hurt backed down, refusing to resume the film.
In response to a question from Entertainment Tonight on the Critics Choice Awards red carpet on Sunday, Marley Matlin responded to William Hurt’s passing: “We have lost a great actor, and working with him on the set of Children of a Younger God will always be something I will look back on. Fondly. He taught me so much as an actor. And he was unique!”, The actress recalls. The actor leaves in his “biography” 105 films.