Obituary: Oscar-winning actor William Hurt, 71, has reportedly died of natural causes. I read someplace he had suffered from prostate cancer and was diagnosed with it a few years ago. He won an Oscar for his performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Snip:
Hurt was born March 20, 1950 in Washington, D.C. His mother, Claire Isabel, worked at Time Inc., and his father Alfred Hurt (1910–1996), was a career bureaucrat, working for the United States Agency for International Development and the State Department. His parents separated when he was 6 years old, and his mother remarried Henry Luce III, the son of Time Magazine publisher Henry Luce.
Raised in relative privilege, Hurt went on to attend Tufts University, where he studied theology, before moving to Juilliard to study acting. After appearing on stage, Hurt secured a lead role in “Altered States,” playing a troubled scientist in Ken Russell’s offbeat film, a notable entry in the body horror genre. But a year later, Hurt achieved a new level of prominence, appearing opposite Kathleen Turner in “Body Heat,” a steamy noir that updated the kind of treachery and double-crossing seen in the likes of “The Big Sleep” and “Double Indemnity” with a bracing sexuality. It transformed both performers, who positively ignited on screen, into major stars. Hurt followed that with another lead role in “Gorky Park” and was part of the ensemble of “The Big Chill,” a drama about a group of friends reuniting that became a touchstone for the baby boomer generation.
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