- For the singer, see Mississippi John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt CBE (born January 22, 1940) is an Academy Award nominated English actor.
Biography
Early life
Hurt was born in
Chesterfield,
Derbyshire to Phyllis, an amateur actress, and Arnould Herbert Hurt, a
clergyman. Hurt studied art at the
St. Martin's School for Art, but turned to the stage in
1962. He performed with the
Royal Shakespeare Company, and is a member of the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He was also for many years an alcoholic, yet has since got rid of his addiction.
Career
Hurt's first film was 1962's
The Wild and the Willing, but his first major role was as
Richard Rich in
1966's
A Man for All Seasons. However, it was his portrayal of the outrageous
Quentin Crisp in the
1975 TV play,
The Naked Civil Servant, that shot him to fame, earning the
British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in the process. The following year, Hurt gave a memorable performance as the emperor
Caligula in the major
BBC drama serial,
I, Claudius. He subsequently developed a successful film career, with his best known roles including the memorable first victim of the title creature in the film
Alien (a role which he reprised as a parody in
Spaceballs), would-be art school radical Scrawdyke in
Little Malcolm and as "John" Merrick in the
Joseph Merrick biography
The Elephant Man.
Hurt, who played the character of Winston Smith in the 1984 adaptation of the novel
Nineteen Eighty-Four, assumed the role of a
Big Brother-esque leader of a fascist
Great Britain in the
2006 film
V for Vendetta, a movie which draws many parallels to the world of
Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Hurt was made a Commander of the The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in June 2004.
Selected filmography
External links
1940 births | Alien film series actors | Best Actor Academy Award nominees | Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominees | Commanders of the Order of the British Empire | English film actors | English stage actors | English television actors | English voice actors | Harry Potter actors | Living people | The Lord of the Rings actors | Natives of Derbyshire
John Hurt | John Hurt | John Hurt | ジョン・ハート | John Hurt | John Hurt | John Hurt