RIP John Hurt

[Bob Juch]

John Hurt, Oscar-Nominated Star of 'The Elephant Man,' Dies at 77

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/j ... man-809521

[silverscreenselect]

A very talented, very versatile actor who will be remembered by most people primarily on the basis of one of the most spectacular death scenes in movie history in Alien, in which he played the crewman from whose chest the alien emerges.

Most recently he played a priest in Jackie, an extended cameo with one good scene in a car with Natalie Portman. I looked at his videography on IMDB and he had eight films that were either recently released or are listed as being filming, complete, or in post-production, so he kept busy in recent months despite his illness.

[Ritterskoop]

I first saw him in a made-for-TV King Lear in 1983. Olivier was Lear, Hurt was The Fool, and Diana Rigg was delicious as Regan.

His Fool reshaped the role for me. I don't recall that the production overall was great (lowish production values, very dark and gray, and distracting music), but it sold me on John Hurt.

I was talked into watching Alien because he was in it, and then he died in the first ten minutes. Gah.

[SpacemanSpiff]

My first rememberance of him was as Caligula in I, Claudius. There were moments where I wasn't sure if he was over the top, or had Little Boots right on. But it was a memorable performance, as were many in that miniseries.

[flockofseagulls104]

My first rememberance of him was as Caligula in I, Claudius. There were moments where I wasn't sure if he was over the top, or had Little Boots right on. But it was a memorable performance, as were many in that miniseries.

I, Claudius is a classic, and it spawned multiple long term careers: Hurt, Patrick Stewart (who played Sejanus) and Derek Jacobi, who played Clau-Clau-Claudius.

[Ritterskoop]

I tried to watch I, Claudius. There was one person to root for but he got killed super early, and then I just quit.

[ghostjmf]

Uh; you're supposed to be rooting for Claudius.

I agree Graves' take on things is way over the top, but that stage of Roman Empire was way over the top too.

One thing that came through with great clarity to me that I hadn't considered before is when a mother & daughter are told they are to show up for dinner tomorrow night to be raped by one of the monster emperors, probably Caligula. The mother tries to bargain her daughter out of this, but no go. She then decides that they will kill themselves first. Someone says "why don't you escape" & the mother turns to them with pitying eyes & says "there is nowhere in the world we could go that he wouldn't find us".

I realized that in the world they knew, the very extensive Roman Empire, that was literally true.

I don't know that they would have had any better chances outside the Empire.

[silverscreenselect]

I tried to watch I, Claudius. There was one person to root for but he got killed super early, and then I just quit.

I have no problem with a TV show or movie that doesn't have any likable characters if it's well made. In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes that screenwriters make is to sanitize a character in order for the audience to have someone to root for. I love Donald Westlake's Parker books, but I think that almost all of the movie versions screw up by trying to make the character too nice a guy.

And when you're dealing with historical figures, you often don't have that much leeway to begin with, because a lot of the people involved weren't very nice.