Oscar Nominations 3 Years In A Row & 9 Other Things You Never Knew About William Hurt
Once called "one of the greatest American actors of his generation" by late film critic Roger Ebert, William Hurt has been a tour de force of cinema for decades. With over 100 film credits to his name and an impressive catalog of performances in movies like Kiss of the Spider Woman, Body Heat, and Captain America: Civil War, his range is widely recognized, but there is plenty more to the Oscar-winner that fans don't know.
Hurt was famously private about his life and gave few interviews, but in later years (especially during promotional periods for movies like The Village and The Incredible Hulk) he began to share more about his career, his thoughts on the acting profession, and his fascinating childhood. Hurt passed away on March 13, 2022, but left a lasting legacy and an optimistic personal philosophy: "Living is so exciting that sometimes you can't stand it."
Joining the ranks of Hollywood heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, William Hurt was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor three years in a row for playing a gay prisoner in Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1985, a teacher at a school for the deaf in Children of a Lesser God in 1986, and a charming if nefarious newscaster in Broadcast News in 1987.
Despite getting so many accolades, winning the Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman didn't appeal to Hurt. Speaking with The Independent, he explained that "the Oscar was isolating... You're skeptical and honored and scared because you're carrying a weight now that you weren't carrying before." It's clear that his work was more important to him than being awarded for it, and the sort of candor he exhibited was a sign of the authenticity he brought to his performances.
William Hurt finally won gold for his performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman alongside the late Raul Julia, who fans will forever remember as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family. In a 1989 interview on Fresh-Air, Julia explained that Hurt never took a salary to work on the movie.
Hurt finally spoke about the movie in a 2015 interview with Yahoo News, acknowledging its impact in 1986 when the AIDS crisis had rendered the general public antagonist towards gay men. "We had to say something about not just gay rights, but about feminine and masculine relationships, and the nature of courage and what it means to speak truth to a power so much greater than you are." Hurt's principled approach combined with his creative curiosity allowed for a well-received and respectful depiction of an out gay man and his nuanced relationship. Kiss of the Spider Woman is therefore remembered as one of William Hurt's best movies.
For most of his career, it seems Hurt preferred smaller movies to blockbusters because they allowed him to do the sort of preparation and analysis his theater training demanded, until the start of the second phase of his career when he seemed to change his mind.
In the same interview with The Independent, Hurt revealed that he was offered parts in blockbuster films such as Jurassic Park in the '90s, but turned down the role of Alan Grant. Hurt certainly would have lent it some gravitas, but might not have understood the concept of a dinosaur disaster movie.
One of Hurt's trademarks has been his stoic delivery, but some fans might not know this is often intentional. In an interview with Roger Ebert about The Accidental Tourist, Ebert wondered how Hurt modulated his "lifeless voice" to "betray even limited emotions," and Hurt opened up about the deadpan delivery he utilized in the movie.
"We were going for intimacy and delicacy and consistency," he said. "But I didn't have to work at it so hard because Larry Kasdan gave me the parameters. He knew the range that was permissible." Hurt has built a career on highlighting that character development doesn't have to happen by leaps and bounds in a melodramatic way, but can be showcased in the confines of a few moments, when tone and inflection are paramount.
Prior to becoming a breakout success with the film Altered States, Hurt had already performed in 60 plays. A graduate of Juilliard, Hurt took acting very seriously, and his contemporaries included Christopher Reeve, Kelsey Grammer, and Robin Williams. While working on Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, Russell Crowe tweeted that he was so aware of Hurt's propensity for character-based research that he had a packet on William Marshall assembled specifically for his co-star.
In the same interview with Ebert, Hurt had his own perspective on approaching a performance. "Acting is building the tip of the iceberg," Hurt said. "You have to build what isn't seen and then play the tip. Only a little bit of the iceberg is ever seen, but it is massive." Thanks to meticulous preparation into the foundation of his characters, Hurt could easily disappear into a role, even when starring in one of Ridley Scott's worst movies.
To anchor the flashy visuals and comicality of Lost in Space, New Line Cinema put William Hurt at the helm of the cast and the Jupiter 2 as Professor John Robinson, leading his family into space to find a new home for Earth's citizens. Hurt took the job as seriously as if he'd been on the set of Children of a Lesser God.
In an interview for The Wrap, he waxed poetic about his take on performing in a space movie, "The battle between technology and the family unit. Between artificial intelligence and natural intelligence. The notion of amorality as represented by the Dr. Smith character. These are the things that intrigue us all." The special effects may seem dated and the dialogue clunky now, but no one can fault Hurt's grounding and thoughtful performance that gives all the kaleidoscopic chaos meaning.
Despite his obsessive approach to character-assembling and impressive pedigree of both indie and blockbuster films, William Hurt battled a reputation for being "the WASP film star" because of his well-known step-father Henry Luce III, son of the founder of Time magazine and a multimillionaire.
In a hard-hitting 1986 interview, Hurt had to answer a question about his career's public perception which pointedly referenced his label as "The WASP film star," one he emphatically disagreed with. "I'm not a WASP film star," he argued, "I'm an actor." Hurt preferred to let his body of work speak for itself, believing his acting ability to be completely separate from his familial privilege.
Actors often draw from their own experiences to make their performances seem more real. William Hurt traveled all over the world with his family and often spent summer holidays with his father - a US State Department employee - in places like Guam and Sudan. This sort of cosmopolitan background meant he would develop an affinity for languages.
Appearing on The Rosie O'Donnell show in 1996, Hurt discussed his family's adventures and mentioned that he spoke French well enough to live in Paris for a time. It's the sort of wanderlust that probably makes filming A Time Of Destiny and The Big Chill easier, especially playing characters who don't have solid roots.
Many actors have a hobby that they enjoy completely unrelated to their profession, and like Harrison Ford, William Hurt received his pilot's license young and logged quite a few hours of flight time in a Cessna 5, Seneca 5, and a Beechcraft Bonanza.
"I flew for about 30 years," he stated in an interview for the Daily Actor centered on Humans, a series where he plays the creator of artificial lifeforms called Synths. "What helps you with your characters is inspiration in life. And the hobbies that I’ve chosen are the ones that connected me to life." Ultimately, the hobby ended up helping him see the world - and his roles - from a different point of view.
Along with being an avid pilot, Hurt loved science-fiction. In the same interview, he went on to explain how much the science-fiction he read as a boy played a role in the parts he would take later in life such as in Altered States, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Lost in Space, and Humans.
"As I began to read science fiction...most especially Isaac Asimov, and began to realize that it wasn’t anywhere near as much fiction as people were thinking...I just realized what they were talking about was anything but imaginary. And so I was enthralled and always have been." In the end, Hurt has always pursued themes of existence, truth, and the intangible meaning of life through his genre work and elevated it with his thoughtful performances.