William Hurt

Born in the US capital, William M. Hurt (March 20, 1950) spent his childhood in various countries, such as Sudan or the island of Guam, by profession of his father, Alfred McCord Hurt, a State Department official. His parents divorced when he was only six years old, and his mother, Claire McGill, married millionaire Henry Luce III, renowned editor of Time magazine. Advised by him, his stepfather, William graduated in Theology from Tufts University.

On campus, the boy had discovered his passion for acting. After taking classes at Juilliard, a prestigious New York center, he spent a season in various theater shows. At the end of the 70s, he participated in an episode of series such as Kojak , and made his film debut through the front door, playing the scientist who performs experiments on himself, the protagonist of An Amazing Journey to the Bottom of the Mind , by Ken Russell , adaptation from Paddy Chayefsky ‘s novel .

The prestigious screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan chose William Hurt as the protagonist of Fuego en el cuerpo , an impeccable homage to classic film noir, in which the actor was accompanied by Kathleen Turner , in his most remembered work. Shortly after, Kasdan relied on his talent again, making him one of the protagonists of Reunion , an emblematic film of the subgenre that could be called “old mature friends meet again.”

The film that made William Hurt one of the most prestigious actors of the 80s was Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). He received the best actor award at Cannes and the Oscar for his impeccable work as a homosexual inmate accused of corruption of minors. He left his mark as the deaf-mute teacher in love with one of his students in Children of a Lesser God , a drama that became very popular. The actor ended the decade with great work in Breaking News and The Force of Destiny , and once again put himself under Kasdan’s baton, in The Accidental Tourist and I’ll Love You Until I Kill You .

In the late 1980s, Hurt divorced Mary Beth Hurt , and was united with Sandra Jennigs, mother of his son Alexander, and actress Marlee Matlin , the deaf-mute from Children of a Lesser God . He subsequently married Heidi Henderson, with whom he had two other children. He later had another daughter with the French actress Sandrine Bonnaire .

William Hurt has been directed by great filmmakers, such as Woody Allen ( Alice ), Wim Wenders ( Until the End of the World ) or Wayne Wang ( Smoke ), but he has also starred in major flops such as The Doctor (by Randa Haynes, responsible for Children of a minor god ), or The Plague , adaptation of the work by Albert Camus . He was a supporting role in Sunshine and has done a lot in the cinema with fantastic overtones, in titles like Dark City , Lost in Space and Michael .

However, the decade of the 90s was marked by depression and loneliness derived from his sentimental failures. “I spent 12 years like this, deceiving myself, but one night, when I was doing a play on Broadway, I said to myself ‘never again.’ I went onstage and kept quiet. The other actor had a horrible time, but I didn’t care. He was standing there, thinking, saying ‘I’m not going to open my mouth until I really feel it’. He was just trying to put his feet back on the ground, to feel that he was wearing socks, that they could smell bad. It was about going back to the basics of acting, recovering the simplest things, as if it was a very windy day and I had to hold on to keep from falling”, comments the actor.

In addition to intervening in the tear-jerking Things that Matter , with Meryl Streep , in recent years, William Hurt has had prominent interventions in Artificial Intelligence , Syriana , The Forest , The Good Shepherd , Towards the Wild Roads or Robin Hood . He was also the general chasing the protagonist in The Incredible Hulk , and received an Oscar nomination for his brief role in A History of Violence .

In recent years he had appeared in brief supporting roles in the war film With All Honors and titles in the Marvel Avengers saga and in Black Widow . Her last film role was in the historical adventure The King’s Daughter .