Oscar-winning actor William Hurt has sadly passed away at age 71. Hurt has been acting since 1970 when he began his career on stage before eventually making his big-screen breakthrough as obsessed scientist Dr. Eddie Jessup in Altered States. This role would go on to earn him a best newcomer nomination at the Golden Globes in 1981. He would then go on to win an Oscar in 1985 for his role as a homosexual prisoner in “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. He would go on to get several more Oscar nominations for his work, as well as an Emmy nomination and a Tony nomination. So it is easy to see that he was a talented and respected actor.

Though he was not a man without his demons and unlike many others in his position he openly admitted to his faults.

“It’s a privilege and a responsibility, and I’m not sure I carried the responsibility well at times, which is embarrassing,” he told The Telegraph in 2013. “And I’ve had to look and be disappointed in myself occasionally for how I behaved in some circumstances.”

I have always been a fan of his work and unlike many others I was introducted to William Hurt in films like Lost in Space, Dark City and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. And I was a huge fan of his p[erformance in the Frank Herbert’s Dune mini series. None of these films where particuarly special but he brought a certain energy to them, maybe more than some of the projects deserved, he was serious about the work he did and for that we can rspect him. Of course many of you will know him best as Thaddeus Ross from the MCU franchise, and again there he really did shine.

Yet he was more than his acting and his demons he was both a pilot and fluent in French.

Sadly in May 2018 he was diaganosied with terminal prostate cancer that had already metastasized to the bones. He died from complications of the disease at his home in Portland, Oregon, on March 13, 2022, at the age of 71