William Hurt

William Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an Academy Award-winning American actor.

Early life

Born in Washington, D.C., Hurt is the stepson of Henry Luce III (the son of the founder of Time Magazine). Hurt graduated from Middlesex School in 1968 where he was the 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.

Career

Hurt appeared first on stage, only later turning to film. His first major role was in the sci-fi hit Altered States (1980) which gave him wide recognition for playing an emotionally obsessed scientist. He received the Academy Award for Best Actor for Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1985. He received three additional nominations, one for Children of a Lesser God (1986), one for Broadcast News (1987) and one for A History Of Violence (2005).

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 like 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 most recently 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. He is currently in the cast of "Vanya", an adaptation of Chechov's Uncle Vanya playing in the Artist Repertoire Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

Private life

Fluent in French, Hurt maintains a home outside Paris. He has a daughter with actress Sandrine Bonnaire and a son with Sandra Jennings, who sued Hurt in the late 1980s claiming she was his common-law wife. Hurt won the case. He was previously married to Mary Beth Hurt from 1971 to 1982 and lived with Marlee Matlin for a period in 1986. Hurt has two sons from his 1989-92 marriage to Heidi Henderson.

Select Filmography

• Verna: U.S.O. Girl, 1978 - Walter
• Altered States, 1980 - Professor Edward Jessup
• Eyewitness, 1981 - Daryll Deever
• Body Heat, 1981 Ned Racine
• The Big Chill, 1983 - Nick
• Gorky Park, 1983 - Arkady Renko
• Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1985 - Luis Alberto Molina
• Children of a Lesser God, 1986 - James Leeds
• Broadcast News 1987 - Tom Grunick
• A Time of Destiny, 1988 - Martin Larraneta
• The Accidental Tourist, 1988 - Macon Leary
• I Love You to Death, 1990 - Harlan James
• Alice, 1990 - Doug Tate
• Until the End of the World, 1991 - Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
• The Doctor, 1991 - Dr. Jack MacKee
• Second Best, 1994 - Graham Holt
• Smoke, 1995 - Paul Benjamin
• A Couch in New York, 1996 - Henry Harriston
• Michael, 1996 - Frank Quinlan
• Jane Eyre, 1996 - Rochester
• Lost in Space, 1998 - Professor John Robinson
• Dark City, 1998 - Inspector Frank Bumstead
• One True Thing, 1998 - George Guldon
• The 4th Floor, 1999 - Greg Harrison
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence, 2001 - Professor Allen Hobby
• Changing Lanes, 2002 - Doyle Gipson's AA Sponsor
• Frank Herbert's Dune, 2003 - Duke Leto Atreides
• The Village, 2004 - Edward Walker
• The King, 2005 - David
• A History of Violence, 2005 - Richie Cusack
• Syriana, 2005 - Stan Goff
• The Legend of Sasquatch, 2006 - John Davis (Voice)
• The Good Shepherd, 2006
• Beautiful Ohio, 2007

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