William Hurt Appreciation: A Complicated Actor Who Was Always Magnetic
thewrap.comnoted on Twitter upon hearing of Hurt’s death at the age of 71, “Hurt always seemed profoundly uncomfortable being a good-looking leading man, which may be one reason that his performance in ‘Broadcast News’ is absolutely perfect — he understood that he was playing someone who was miscast.”Before making his way to the screen, Hurt had already established his bona fides on the New York stage, taking on challenging roles ranging from Hamlet to the gay paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Lanford Wilson’s “Fifth of July.” (Even after achieving big-screen fame, Hurt returned to Broadway as part of the company of David Rabe’s “Hurlyburly” in a legendarily explosive production directed by Mike Nichols.) He hit the ground running in Hollywood: Hurt managed to survive the tempestuous creation of his first film, 1980’s “Altered States,” even as screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky took his name off the film and original director Arthur Penn (who hired Hurt in the first place) was replaced by Ken Russell.Hurt and Sigourney Weaver made an appealing couple in “Eyewitness” (1981), a thriller that was vastly overshadowed by “Body Heat” in the same year.
Lawrence Kasdan’s noir throwback paired Hurt and Kathleen Turner to scorching effect, turning this intense and serious actor into the kind of sex symbol he was never particularly interested in becoming.
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