Well, son of a bitch. William Hurt just died. He apparently had terminal prostate cancer, and he was only 71. Hurt had done a ton of films and off-Broadway productions, and he was never far from the public consciousness, so the news of his death came as a total surprise to me. Guess I thought he'd live forever. I mean, it wasn't so long ago that he was playing Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in a series of Marvel movies.
Not to speak ill of the dead, but I tended to see Hurt as a solid but fairly bland actor. I thought he was good in movies like "Body Heat" and "Children of a Lesser God," but I frankly hated his performance in "A History of Violence" (itself a shitty movie overall) and "The Accidental Tourist" (which was peopled with unlikeable, insufferable characters). I never saw "The Big Chill" or "Kiss of the Spider Woman," so maybe I should get to know more of Hurt's work before passing judgment, but overall, he seemed to come off as fairly milquetoast-y. Maybe that very blandness conferred a weird sort of versatility, though, because he did take on a pretty impressive variety of roles.
Anyway, RIP, Mr. Hurt.
"Only 71"
ReplyDeleteAt one time, that would have seemed like a long and full life. From the perspective of being 66 it does seem way too young to go.