John Hurt

Sir John Vincent Hurt CBE (born 22 January 1940 in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England; died 25 January 2017 in Cromer, Norfolk, England) was a celebrated English actor whose career spanned more than 50 years.

Hurt's performance in the prison drama Midnight Express (1978) brought him international renown and earned Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards, along with an Academy Award nomination. His BAFTA-nominated portrayal of astronaut Kane, in the science-fiction horror film Alien (1979), contained a scene in which an alien creature burst out of his chest. Hurt earned his third competitive BAFTA, along with his second Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, as John Merrick in David Lynch's biopic The Elephant Man (1980).

Other significant roles during the 1980s included Bob Champion in biopic Champions (1984), Mr. Braddock in the Stephen Frears drama The Hit (1984), Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) and Stephen Ward in the drama depicting the Profumo affair, Scandal (1989). Hurt was again BAFTA-nominated for his work in Irish drama The Field (1990) and played the primary villain, James Graham, in the epic adventure Rob Roy (1995). His later films include the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011), the Hellboy films (2004 and 2008), The Skeleton Key (2005), The Proposition (2005), V for Vendetta (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). In 2012, he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement BAFTA Award, in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to cinema". He was knighted in 2015 for his services to drama.

I met John Hurt at the Entertainment Media Show in London in October 2011.

Links:
IMDb
Wikipedia