William McChord Hurt (1950 - 2022)

Born 20 Mar 1950 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Ancestors

Died 13 Mar 2022 at age 71 in Portland, Washington, Oregon, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Christopher Childs [send private message]

Biography

Bill Hurt is Notable.

Film is not the innate art, theatre is. If all the film in the world burnt down today, you'd still have acting. -- William Hurt

William McChord Hurt was born March 20, 1950, in Washington, D.C., the son of Claire Isabel (McGill) Hurt (1923-1971), who worked at Time Inc.^[1], and Alfred McChord Hurt (1910–1996), who worked for the United States Agency for International Development and the State Department^[2]. His parents separated in the mid-1950s and then divorced; his mother was remarried in 1960 to Henry Luce III, the son of Time Magazine's publisher.

Educated at Massachusetts' Middlesex School and then at Tufts University, Hurt was first schooled in acting at the former, and retained a tie to the place throughout his life; at Tufts, he focused on the study of theology but was soon drawn into the university's drama program, ultimately playing both supporting and leading roles in the school's compact theater. From Tufts he moved on to Juilliard, and thence to leading roles at Manhattan's Circle Repertory Theatre, including Hamlet -- in the 1979 production of Hamlet directed by Circle founder Marshall Mason -- and Byron in Romulus Linney's Childe Byron, also directed by Mason.

His natural presence as well as his ability to craft characterizations translated effectively from stage to screen, and notable early roles in "Altered States" (1980) and the steamy "Body Heat" (1981) -- opposite Kathleen Turner -- propelled him into a lengthy Hollywood career during which he was nominated four times for Oscars, winning the statuette for Best Actor in 1985 for "Kiss of the Spider Woman". He made no secret of his disinterest in the trappings -- and the accompanying irritations -- of celebrity, and of his intense focus on the craft of acting, not the publicity that attended success in the field. His simple declaration, in accepting the Oscar in 1985, "I'm proud to be an actor", summarized both his attitude toward, and his belief in, the potential of acting to uplift and illuminate. Privately and on occasion publicly, he mourned the cheapening of the profession for the sake of Hollywood profit sheets and the self-aggrandizement of those driven more by ego than art.

He had two marriages, the first to actress Mary Beth Hurt (née Supinger) -- from 1971 to 1982 -- and the second to Heidi Henderson, from 1989 to 1991, with whom he had two children. In the interval he was partnered with Sandra Jennings, with whom he had a child; and with actress Marlee Matlin, opposite whom he had acted in “Children of a Lesser God”, in a difficult and much-publicized relationship. He also had a child with French actress, director, and screenwriter Sandrine Bonnaire.

After coping for several years with significant health challenges, William Hurt died of natural causes on the 13th of March, 2022.

Sources

1. ↑ "Claire Isabelle McGill Luce (1923–1971)". Oregon Encyclopedia. Oregon Historical Society
2. ↑ Variety’ William Hurt, Oscar-Winning Actor for ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman,’ Dies at 71, By Brent Lang, J. Kim Murphy.

• Marriages and personal partnerships: "William Hurt", Wikipedia; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hurt Wikipedia.org- William Hurt

• Personal knowledge and recollection of schoolmate and friend Christopher Childs (Childs-1516).

See also:

• Quotations: imbd.com Remembering William Hurt

• Photos: William Hurt - A Life in Pictures

• Birth, family members, death, and burial (no image of gravestone, but dates are verified by other sources): Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/237553775/william-hurt : accessed 19 March 2022), memorial page for William Hurt (20 Mar 1950–13 Mar 2022), Find A Grave: Memorial #237553775; Maintained by Find a Grave [which reports that "Upon his death, he was cremated and his ashes returned unto the custody of his son."]