John Vincent Hurt,
CBE (born 22 January 1940) is an
English actor. Hurt initially came to prominence for his role as
Richard Rich in the 1966 film
A Man for All Seasons, and has since retained a career as a
lead and
supporting actor of many popular motion pictures, including:
Midnight Express,
Alien,
The Elephant Man,
Nineteen Eighty-Four,
Rob Roy,
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,
Spaceballs,
V for Vendetta,
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the
Hellboy film series. Hurt is one of England's best-known, most prolific and sought-after actors, and has had a versatile film career spanning over 40 years.
[John Hurt - Biography] He is also highly respected for his many
Shakespearean roles.
[John Hurt Biography (1940-)] Hurt has received multiple awards and honours throughout his career including three
BAFTA Awards and a
Golden Globe, as well as two
Academy Award nominations. His character's demise in
Alien is generally regarded as one of the most chilling and unforgettable deaths in cinematic history.
[The death of Kane (John Hurt) in Alien - Movie Deaths Database]
Biography
Personal life
Hurt was born in
Shirebrook,
Derbyshire, the son of Phyllis (
née Massey), an amateur actress and engineer, and Arnould Herbert Hurt, a mathematician who became an
Anglican clergyman.
Hurt has an older brother, Michael, a monk based in Ireland, and an adopted sister, Monica. His father was a vicar at St John in
Sunderland, but in 1937 he moved his family to Derbyshire, where he became Perpetual Curate of Holy Trinity church. When John was five, his father became the vicar of St Stephens Church at
Woodville in
South Derbyshire and remained there until 1952. In 1945 the Reverend Mr. Hurt founded 1st Woodville (St Stephens) Scout Group which is still going strong to day.
Hurt had a strict upbringing: the family lived opposite a cinema but he was not allowed to visit. He was also not permitted to mix with local children because in his parents' view they were 'too common'. At the age of eight he was sent to the Anglo-Catholic St Michaels prep school in
Sevenoaks,
Kent, where he eventually developed his passion for acting. He decided he wanted to become an actor, and his first role was that of a girl in a school production
The Bluebird (
L'Oiseau Bleu) by
Maurice Maeterlinck.
