Remembering Sir John Hurt

Many of you have probably already heard the sad news of the passing of actor John Hurt. He died Friday at the age of 77. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2015, but announced four months later that the disease was in remission after undergoing treatment. The cause of death has not yet been announced.

Mr. Hurt is survived by his wife, Anwen Rees-Myers, and his two sons, Alexander and Nicholas Hurt, from a previous marriage.

In a career that spanned six decades, Sir John received two Oscar nominations, a Golden Globe for best actor in a supporting role in Midnight Express and three BAFTA awards for various TV and film roles. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts presented Hurt with lifetime achievement award in 2012 for his outstanding contribution to British cinema. He was knighted in 2015 for his services to drama and was reportedly working up to the time of his death.

Of course a list of awards and honors are all well and good. But it is the performances that we will remember and cherish. Let’s look at just a sampling of over two hundred credits in the long and outstanding career of John Hurt.

The Naked Civil Servant – 1975

Hurt portrayed English writer and anecdoctalist Quentin Crisp who publicly declared his homosexuality in the highly conservative environment of 1930’s and 40’s England. This was during a time when being openly gay was still an offense punishable by imprisonment in the UK.

In 2009, John reprised this role in An Englishman in New York, which chronicled the latter years of Crisp's life spent in New York City.