John Hurt
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- (Mississippi John Hurt is an early American folk and country blues singer, 1893-1966)
John Vincent Hurt (born January 22, 1940) CBE, is a British actor.
Born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Hurt studied art at the St. Martin's School for Art, but turned to the stage in 1962. He performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is a member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
His first film was 1962's The Wild and the Willing, but his first major role was as Richard Rich in 1966's A Man for All Seasons. However, it was his portrayal of the outrageous Quentin Crisp in the 1975 TV play, The Naked Civil Servant, that he shot to fame, earning the BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor in the process. The following year, Hurt gave a memorable performance as the emperor Caligula in the major BBC drama serial, I, Claudius. He is likely best known to American audiences as the memorable first victim of the title creature in the film Alien, or as "John" Merrick in the Joseph Merrick biography The Elephant Man.
Hurt was awarded the CBE in June 2004.
Partial filmography
- Midnight Express (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor)
- Alien
- Heaven's Gate
- The Elephant Man (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor)
- History of the World, Part I (cameo appearance as Jesus)
- Champions
- Watership Down (voice only)
- The Osterman Weekend
- Spaceballs (cameo appearance spoofing his role in Alien)
- Aria
- White Mischief
- Scandal
- The Field
- Frankenstein Unbound
- King Ralph
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
- Contact
- 1984
- Love and Death on Long Island (1997)
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
- Harry Potter and the Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone
- Hellboy
- The Black Cauldron (voice only)
- The Plague Dogs (voice only)
- Shooting Dogs