Saturday, January 28, 2017

John Hurt: R.I.P.

From CNET

Actor Sir John Hurt, who appeared in over 200 films and TV shows, died Friday at the age of 77. The actor revealed in 2015 that he was battling pancreatic cancer.

The actor's 60-year career earned him two Oscar nominations and played such memorable roles as the wand maker Ollivander in three of the Harry Potter films, the deformed Joseph Merrick in "The Elephant Man," Winston Smith in "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1984) based on the George Orwell book, the Dragon in the "Merlin" TV series, Professor Broom in the "Hellboy" films, and the War Doctor in "Doctor Who," just to name a few. Hurt also voiced characters in such well-known animated features as "The Lord of the Rings" and "Watership Down."

In Ridley Scott's sci-fi thriller "Alien" (1979), Hurt plays a character named Kane whose stomach explodes with an alien he unknowingly became a host to in one of the most graphic, and memorable scenes in the movie. He would repeat a similar scene in Mel Brooks's 1987 film "Spaceballs."

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