Yahoo News Doctor Who and Alien star John Hurt dies, aged 77
Sir John Hurt – one of the defining actors of his generation – has died. He was 77.
The Doctor Who and Alien star passed away after battling pancreatic cancer in the last few years of his life, his agent confirmed to BBC News. He'd celebrated his birthday on January 22.
Sir John's wife Anwen Rees-Myers confirmed that he died on Wednesday, January 25 at home in Norfolk.
"John was the most sublime of actors and the most gentlemanly of gentlemen with the greatest of hearts and the most generosity of spirit," she said.
"He touched all our lives with joy and magic, and it will be a strange world without him."
A near-ubiquitous presence on TV, film and the stage across six decades, Sir John earned four BAFTAs, a Golden Globe and was nominated twice for an Academy Award.
Having cut his teeth in the early years of BBC drama, Sir John had his star turn on the big screen as the Lord Chancellor Richard Rich in the beloved 1966 period drama A Man for All Seasons.
His transformative portrayal of influential LGBTQ writer Quentin Crisp in ITV's The Naked Civil Servant remains a staple of '70s TV drama at its finest, as does Hurt's turn as the insane emperor Caligula in I, Claudius.
Sir John is responsible as well for traumatising generations of moviegoers via his terrifying performance in Alien as Kane, the first victim of the disgusting chest-bursting xenomorphs.
He would send up that memorably horrifying movie moment with a cameo in director Mel Brooks' science fiction farce Spaceballs nearly a decade later.
The Derbyshire-born actor was nominated for an Academy Award – and won a Golden Globe – for his portrayal of a heroin addict in 1978's Midnight Express.
He soon went on to win a BAFTA, and secure a second Oscar nomination, for playing the tragic figure John Merrick in Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch's version of The Elephant Man.
Sir John's many memorable movie roles over the years include voicing Aragorn in the original animated Lord of the Rings movie, the reluctant rebel Winston in 1984, an oppressive dictator in V for Vendetta and the wand-maker Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter movie series.
He reached an entirely new generation of fans as the lost War Doctor in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special 'The Day of the Doctor', a role which he reprised for a series of Big Finish audio dramas.
BAFTA celebrated his incredible film career in 2012 by presenting him with its coveted Outstanding Contribution award, and he was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours List for his contribution to drama.
In October 2015, Sir John joyously announced that he had received some good news after spending much of the year in treatment for early stage pancreatic cancer.
"I had a final scan and it's all gone brilliantly… I am overjoyed, I am thrilled. It all looks great for the future – it's fantastic," he said at the time.
But in summer 2016, he took the difficult decision to pull out of Kenneth Branagh's The Entertainer –which was due to be his first appearance in London's West End for a decade – on medical advice following an intestinal complaint.
"Although I am much improved and on the road to a full recovery, my doctors have advised that it is too soon for me to undertake a lengthy and arduous stage role," Sir John said at the time.
"It is therefore with great sadness and disappointment that I must withdraw from The Entertainer. I would like to send Ken, [producer] Rob [Ashford] and the entire company my love and very best wishes for a happy and successful production of a wonderful play."
Sir John had been working on a number of movies in the months before his death. He can be seen in Jackie as Father Richard McSorley, a close friend of the Kennedy family, and forthcoming films include the World War II drama Darkest Hour, with Sir John as Neville Chamberlain opposite Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill.
We are so sad to hear about the death of the great John Hurt. Director Pablo Larraín says "John was invincible. Unflinching. Eternal" pic.twitter.com/VDy7l2u3Fc
- Jackie (@JackieFilmUK) January 28, 2017
He is survived by his wife of 12 years Anwen Rees-Myers, and his two sons with ex-wife Joan Dalton – Alexander and Nick.
In a 2005 interview with The Guardian reflecting on his life and career, Sir John said: "We are all racing towards death. No matter how many great, intellectual conclusions we draw during our lives, we know they're all only man-made, like God.
"I begin to wonder where it all leads. What can you do, except do what you can do as best you know how?"
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment and tech news? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.
You Might Also Like
