Ludovic Schoendoerffer

Sir John Vincent Hurt, 1940-2017, was a British actor and voice actor. Considered one of history's greatest character actors, Hurt starred in films such as 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 Hellboy. Born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1940, his mother, Phyllis Massey Hurt (1907-1975), was an engineer and amateur actress, and his father, Arnould Herbert Hurt (1904-1999), was a mathematician and clergyman. Despite his family's disapproval, Hurt pursued acting from a young age, initially studying art at Grimsby Art School and Saint Martin's School of Art at his parents' insistence, eventually earning a teaching diploma. He didn't abandon his acting aspirations, however, and gained entry to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his professional acting career in television in 1962, later transitioning to film. His role in the 1971 film 10 Rillington Place earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. From the mid-1970s, he began appearing in higher-profile films. His role as Max, Billy Hayes' prison mate, in the 1978 film Midnight Express (written by Oliver Stone and directed by Alan Parker), which caused a significant reaction in Turkey, won him a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and earned him an Academy Award nomination. In 1979, his role as Kane in Ridley Scott's Alien brought him to the attention of American audiences. His performance in David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man, a challenging role under heavy makeup, was a major success. His portrayal of Joseph Merrick earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor and further Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. He played Winston Smith in Michael Radford's 1984 adaptation of George Orwell's dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four. In 1989, he played Stephen Ward in Scandal, a film about the Profumo affair that rocked 1960s Britain. In the 1990s and 2000s, he appeared as a character actor in numerous British and American films. He also lent his distinctive voice as a narrator to films such as Dogville and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. He played the ruthless Prime Minister Adam Sutler in the 2005 dystopian film V for Vendetta. He also appeared as Professor Broom in Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), and as Ollivander in the final two Harry Potter films, Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2. He also worked with Lars von Trier in Melancholia and Jim Jarmusch in Only Lovers Left Alive. He was knighted in 2015. Among his final completed films was Jackie, a film about a period in the life of Jacqueline Kennedy, in which he played Father Richard McSorley. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2015, Hurt continued acting throughout his treatment, remaining active in both television and film. He died at his home in Norfolk on January 25, 2017. Hurt was married four times and had several long-term relationships. He married actress Annette Robertson in 1962, a marriage that lasted only two years. He then had a relationship of over 15 years with French model Marie-Lise Volpeliere-Pierrot, who died in a riding accident in 1983, just before they were to marry. He married American Donna Peacock in 1984; the marriage lasted six years, ending due to his relationship with production assistant Joan Jo Dalton, whom he met on the set of Scandal. He married Dalton in 1990, and they divorced in 1996; they had two sons, Alexander “Sasha” (born 1990) and Nicholas (born 1993). He married producer Anwen Rees-Myers in 2005, remaining married to her until his death; he appeared in small roles in several of her productions.