William Hurt
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Washington, District of Columbia, USA
One of the top leading men of the '80s, William Hurt, born March 20th, 1950, is notable for his intensity and effective portrayals of complex characters. Although born in Washington, D.C., Hurt had already seen much of the world by the time he was grown, as his father worked for the State Department. His early years spent in the South Pacific near Guam, Hurt moved to Manhattan with his mother after his parents divorced when he was six years old. He spent the summers with his father, vacationing in a variety of international locales, including Sudan. At the age of ten, Hurt's life again changed dramatically when he became a stepson to Henry Luce III, the heir to the Time-Life empire. His mother's second marriage indirectly led to Hurt's initial involvement with the theater: sent away to a boarding school in Massachusetts, he found comfort in acting.After going on to Tufts University to study theology for three years at his stepfather's urging, Hurt married aspiring actress Mary Beth Supinger and followed her to London to study drama. Upon their return to the U.S., Hurt studied drama at Juilliard. By this time, under the realization that his marriage was failing, Hurt divorced his wife, got a motorcycle, and headed cross country for the Shakespeare festival in Ashland, OR, where he made his professional debut in a production of Hamlet. He later joined New York's Circle Repertory Company, and went on to receive critical acclaim for his work on the New York stage.Hurt made his feature film debut in Ken Russell's Altered States in 1980, but it was not until he appeared opposite Kathleen Turner in Body Heat (1981) that he became a star and sex symbol. Four years later, he won Best Actor Oscar and British Academy awards as well as a similar honor at Cannes for his sensitive portrayal of a gay prisoner in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). He was again nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his two subsequent films, Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). Further success followed in 1988 when he starred in The Accidental Tourist.As bright as his star shone on stage and screen, by the end of the '80s, a darker side of Hurt was exposed when he was sued by his former live-in love and mother of his daughter Alex, ballet dancer Sandra Jennings, who claimed to be his common-law wife. Despite his personal problems, Hurt continued to stay relatively busy, beginning the new decade with a fine turn in Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World (1991). He subsequently appeared in such acclaimed films as Smoke (1995), Jane Eyre (1996), One True Thing (1998), and Dark City (1998). In 1998, Hurt appeared as the patriarch of one of televisions most beloved sci-fi families in the big-budgeted remake of Lost in Space, and as a gubernatorial candidate with a shadowy past in George Hickenlooper's political drama The Big Brass Ring (1999).Still alternating between stage and screen into the new millennium, Hurt stuck mainly to the small screen in the next few years. After lending his voice to the animated portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ in The Miracle Maker, appearing in the mini-series Dune, and taking the title role of The Contaminated Man in 2000, Hurt returned to features with his role in director Steven Spielberg's long anticipated (post-mortem) collaboration with the late Stanley Kubrick, A.I. As the well-intending scientist who sets the story of an artificial boy capable of learning and love into motion, Hurt's character seemed to provide the antithesis of the regressive experiments his previous character had flirted with in Altered States.Hurt played a supporting role in Changing Lanes (2002), an thought-provoking thriller following two very different New York City residents whose lives fatefully intersect following a car accident, and again in the political thriller Syriana, which would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2005. The actor was praised the same year for his work as a supporting character in David Cro
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Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
60% | The Last Full Measure |
|
— | 2020 |
85% | Avengers: Infinity War |
|
$665M | 2018 |
51% | The Miracle Season |
|
— | 2018 |
No Score Yet | The King's Daughter |
|
— | 2016 |
90% | Captain America: Civil War |
|
$408.1M | 2016 |
No Score Yet | The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her |
|
— | 2014 |
0% | Days and Nights |
|
$6.5k | 2014 |
65% | The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them |
|
$0.5M | 2014 |
13% | Winter's Tale |
|
$10.7M | 2014 |
No Score Yet | A New York Winter's Tale |
|
— | 2014 |
90% | Fire In The Blood |
|
$29.4k | 2013 |
10% | The Host |
|
$26.7M | 2013 |
92% | The Challenger Disaster |
|
— | 2013 |
44% | Late Bloomers |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Shadows (Hellgate) |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | J'enrage De Son Absence |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | The Countess |
|
— | 2011 |
77% | Too Big to Fail |
|
— | 2011 |
43% | Robin Hood |
|
$105.3M | 2010 |
66% | The Yellow Handkerchief |
|
$0.3M | 2010 |
No Score Yet | The River Why |
|
— | 2010 |
No Score Yet | Hurt |
|
— | 2009 |
71% | Endgame |
|
— | 2009 |
67% | The Incredible Hulk |
|
$134.6M | 2008 |
34% | Vantage Point |
|
$72.3M | 2008 |
No Score Yet | Dark City (Director's Cut) |
|
— | 2008 |
58% | Noise |
|
— | 2007 |
83% | Into the Wild |
|
$18.2M | 2007 |
55% | Mr. Brooks |
|
$28.5M | 2007 |
No Score Yet | The Miracle Maker |
|
— | 2007 |
55% | The Good Shepherd |
|
$59.9M | 2006 |
No Score Yet | Hunt for Justice |
|
— | 2006 |
57% | The King |
|
— | 2006 |
No Score Yet | The Legend of Sasquatch |
|
— | 2006 |
No Score Yet | Beautiful Ohio |
|
— | 2006 |
73% | Syriana |
|
$50.9M | 2005 |
87% | A History of Violence |
|
$31.6M | 2005 |
14% | Neverwas |
|
— | 2005 |
43% | The Village |
|
$114.2M | 2004 |
44% | The Blue Butterfly |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Frankenstein |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story |
|
— | 2002 |
No Score Yet | Master Spy: The Life Of Robert P. Hanssen |
|
— | 2002 |
60% | Tuck Everlasting |
|
$19.1M | 2002 |
77% | Changing Lanes |
|
$66.7M | 2002 |
No Score Yet | Nearest to Heaven |
|
— | 2002 |
54% | Rare Birds |
|
— | 2001 |
74% | A.I. Artificial Intelligence |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | The Flamingo Rising |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | Varian's War |
|
— | 2000 |
74% | Sunshine |
|
— | 2000 |
22% | The Simian Line |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | Dune |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | The Contaminated Man |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | Do Not Disturb (Silent Witness) |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | Elie Wiesel Goes Home |
|
— | 1999 |
57% | The Big Brass Ring |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | The 4th Floor |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | Africans in America |
|
— | 1998 |
89% | One True Thing |
|
— | 1998 |
28% | Lost in Space |
|
— | 1998 |
11% | The Proposition |
|
— | 1998 |
76% | Dark City |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | Loved |
|
— | 1997 |
34% | Michael |
|
— | 1996 |
74% | Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | Un divan à New York (A Couch In New York) |
|
— | 1996 |
93% | Smoke |
|
— | 1995 |
8% | Trial by Jury |
|
— | 1994 |
100% | Second Best |
|
— | 1994 |
52% | Mr. Wonderful |
|
— | 1993 |
88% | Until the End of the World (Bis ans Ende der Welt) |
|
— | 1992 |
No Score Yet | The Plague (La Peste) |
|
— | 1992 |
82% | The Doctor |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | The Secrets of Dick Smith |
|
— | 1991 |
75% | Alice |
|
— | 1990 |
56% | I Love You to Death |
|
— | 1990 |
81% | The Accidental Tourist |
|
— | 1988 |
No Score Yet | A Time of Destiny |
|
— | 1988 |
98% | Broadcast News |
|
— | 1987 |
79% | Children of a Lesser God |
|
— | 1986 |
87% | Kiss of the Spider Woman |
|
— | 1985 |
77% | Gorky Park |
|
— | 1983 |
69% | The Big Chill |
|
— | 1983 |
98% | Body Heat |
|
— | 1981 |
75% | Eyewitness |
|
— | 1981 |
85% | Altered States |
|
— | 1980 |
No Score Yet | Verna: USO Girl |
|
— | 1978 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
91% |
Damages
2007-2012
|
|
|
82% |
Goliath
2016-2019
|
|
|
87% |
Condor
2018
|
|
|
94% |
HUMANS
2015-2018
|
|
|
71% |
Frank Herbert's 'Dune'
2000
|
|
|
58% |
Beowulf
2016
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The View
1997
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Moby Dick
2011
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Masterpiece
1971-2014
|
|
|
86% |
Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King
2006
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The King of Queens
1998-2007
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Kojak
1973-1978
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Masters
2001
|
|
|
Quotes from William Hurt's Characters
General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross: | Captain, while a great many people see you as a hero, there are some who prefer the word vigilante. You've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's something the world can no longer tolerate. |
James Leeds: | Only stupid hearing people think deaf people are stupid. |
Ned Racine: | You look like Pine Haven. |
Matty Walker: | And how does Pine Haven look? |
Ned Racine: | Well tended. |
Matty Walker: | Oh, I'm well tended all right. Well tended. |
Jack McKee: | Every doctor becomes a patient somewhere down the line. |
Jack McKee: | Yes, it talks. Amazing! |
Jack McKee: | There's a danger with feeling too strongly about your patients, a danger with becoming too involved. |
Alan Osborne: | (on the airplane to Costa Rica while talking to Pete) You get some sleep until we land. |
Alan Osborne: | You get some sleep until we land. |
Eddie Jessup: | I haven't told anyone this in ten years. I'm telling you now because I think you have a right to know what kind of a nut you might be getting mixed up with here. |
Emily Jessup: | Arthur was right. You are a fascinating bastard. |
Eddie Jessup: | Emily's quite content to go on with this life. She insists she's in love with me - whatever that is. What she means is she prefers the senseless pain we inflict on each other to the pain we would otherwise inflict on ourselves. But I'm not afraid of that solitary pain. In fact, if I don't strip myself of all this clatter and clutter and ridiculous ritual, I shall go out of my fucking mind. Does that answer your question, Arthur? |
Arthur Rosenberg: | What question was that? |
Eddie Jessup: | You asked me why I was getting divorced. |
Arthur Rosenberg: | Oh, listen, it's your life. I'm sorry I even asked. |
Eddie Jessup: | You saved me. You redeemed me from the pit. I was in it, Emily. I was *in* that ultimate moment of terror that is the beginning of life. It is nothing. Simple, hideous nothing. The final truth of all things is that there is no final Truth. Truth is what's transitory. It's human life that is real. I don't want to frighten you, Emily, but what I'm trying to tell you is that moment of terror is a real and living horror, living and growing within me now, and the only thing that keeps it from devouring me is you. |
Emily Jessup: | Why don't you just come back to us? |
Eddie Jessup: | It's too late. I don't think I can get it out of me anymore. I can't live with it. The pain is too great. |
Mason Parrish: | You're a whacko! |
Eddie Jessup: | What's whacko about it, Mason? I'm a man in search of his true self. How archetypically American can you get? We're all trying to fulfill ourselves, understand ourselves, get in touch with ourselves, face the reality of ourselves, explore ourselves, expand ourselves. Ever since we dispensed with God we've got nothing but ourselves to explain this meaningless horror of life. |
Eddie Jessup: | Memory is energy! It doesn't disappear - it's still in there. There's a physiological pathway to our earlier consciousnesses. There has to be; and I'm telling you it's in the goddamned limbic system. |
Eddie Jessup: | Yes, but we've localized it. Now I know where the Self is. It's in our own minds. It's a form of human energy. Our atoms are six billion years old. We've got six billion years of memory in our minds. |
Eddie Jessup: | What the hell is not religious about that? You've simply replaced God with the Original Self. |
Eddie Jessup: | What dignifies the Yogic practices is that the belief system itself is not truly religious. There is no Buddhist God per se. It is the Self, the individual Mind, that contains immortality and ultimate truth. |
Eddie Jessup: | The purpose of our suffering is only more suffering. |
Jeb: | I always liked Science-Fiction stories; never dreamed I'd be living in one. |
Wanderer: | Be happy Mel that after living so many lives, I've finally found something to die for. |
Professor Hobby: | You are a real boy. At least as real as I've ever made one. |
Professor Hobby: | The greatest single human gift - the ability to chase down our dreams. |
Philip Allen: | Intelligence is their mother's milk and they don't like sharing the royal tit with people that don't have titles. |
Ned Racine: | NED RACINE Me? I need tending. I need someone to take care of me. Rub my tired muscles. Smooth out my sheets. MATTY WALKER Get married. NED RACINE I just need it for tonight. |
Ned Racine: | Me? I need tending. I need someone to take care of me. Rub my tired muscles. Smooth out my sheets. |
Matty Walker: | Get married. |
Ned Racine: | I just need it for tonight. |
Angus Tuck: | Don't be afraid of death Winnie, be afraid of the un-lived life |
Angus Tuck: | Don't be afraid of death Winnie, be afraid of the un-lived life. |
Meg: | I feel terrible. The last time I spoke with Alex we had a fight. I yelled at him. |
Nick: | That's probably why he killed himself. |
Edward Walker: | The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe. |
Marshall: | Why do you fight it so hard, Earl? |
Richie Cusack: | How do you fuck that up? How do you FUCK THAT UP?!?! |
Richie Cusack: | How do you fuck that up? How do you FUCK THAT UP?! |