People
John Hurt
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Sir John Vincent Hurt (January 22, 1940 – January 25, 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. He came to prominence for his role as Richard Rich in the film A Man for All Seasons (1966) and gained BAFTA Award nominations for his portrayals of Timothy Evans in 10 Rillington Place (1971) and Quentin Crisp in television film The Naked Civil Servant (1975) – winning his first BAFTA for the latter. He played Caligula in the BBC TV series I, Claudius (1976). 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), notably included a scene where an alien creature burst out of his chest, named by several publications as one of the most memorable moments in cinema history. Hurt earned his third competitive BAFTA, along with his second Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, as Joseph 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 (2001–11), the Hellboy films (2004 and 2008), supernatural thriller The Skeleton Key (2005), western The Proposition (2005), political thriller V for Vendetta (2005), action adventure Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), sci-fi action Outlander (2008) and the Cold War espionage film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). Hurt reprised his role as Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York (2009), which brought his seventh BAFTA nomination. He portrayed the War Doctor in the BBC TV series Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", in 2013. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors; director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in the world". He possessed what was described as the "most distinctive voice in Britain", likened by The Observer to "nicotine sieved through dirty, moonlit gravel". His voice acting career encompassed films such as Watership Down (1978), The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Plague Dogs (1982), The Black Cauldron (1985), Dogville (2003) and Planet Dinosaur (2011) as well as BBC TV series Merlin (2008–2012). 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.
Notable films
Where to start
Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
Alien
As Kane
Snowpiercer
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
As Mr. Ollivander
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
As Ollivander
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
As Ollivander
Contact
As S. R. Hadden
The Plague Dogs
Appears in a KinoChain journey
The Oxford Murders
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
The Discs That Changed How Britain Watched
When DVD landed in Britain in 1997 it promised cinema in your living room. The discs that followed rewired what collectors expected from a film at home.
10 films
The Long Con of the Cue Ball
Eight films about hustlers, pupils and the moment a performance of skill curdles into something crueller. The table is never just a table.
8 films
The University of British Cinema
From the dreaming spires of Cambridge to the redbrick campuses of the provinces, a journey through the British university film and what it reveals about class,...
8 films
Darkness Beyond the Gate
A wordless lamb, a talking pig and a band of rabbits walk the same fence line: the moment a gentle countryside turns strange.
6 films
When Studios Marry: Films Born of Corporate Chaos
From the ashes of mergers and acquisitions come some of cinema's most fascinating experiments. This chain traces how boardroom decisions shaped the art on scree...
8 films
The Ghosts Our Machines Keep
A chain about virtual reality, digital afterlife and grief, beginning with Yeon Sang-ho's Paradise Lost and moving through Korean and international cinema's scr...
8 films
The Slow Creep of European Dread
Seven films that prove horror lives in the corner of the frame, not the jump cut. A chain through the quiet, unshakeable dread of European arthouse cinema.
7 films
The Art of Listening
From the whisper of a surveillance tape to the roar of a wartime beach, these eight films prove that sound is not just heard, it is felt. A chain of masterpiece...
7 films
Topics
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Related people
Collaborators & neighbours
Acted
Hercules
2014 · Cotys
Only Lovers Left Alive
2013 · Christopher Marlowe
Snowpiercer
2013 · Gilliam
The Gruffalo's Child
2011 · The Owl (voice)
Immortals
2011 · Old Zeus
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011 · Control
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
2011 · Ollivander
The Confession
2011 · Priest
Melancholia
2011 · Dexter
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2010 · Ollivander
The Gruffalo
2009 · Owl (voice)
44 Inch Chest
2009 · Old Man Peanut
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2008 · Professor Harold Oxley
The Oxford Murders
2008 · Arthur Seldom
The Proposition
2005 · Jellon Lamb
Hellboy
2004 · Prof. Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2001 · Mr. Ollivander
Contact
1997 · S. R. Hadden
Dead Man
1995 · John Scholfield
Second Best
1994 · Uncle Turpin
King Ralph
1991 · Graves
Spaceballs
1987 · John Hurt
Nineteen Eighty-Four
1984 · Winston Smith
The Hit
1984 · Braddock
The Osterman Weekend
1983 · Lawrence Fassett
The Plague Dogs
1982 · Snitter (voice)
Partners
1982 · Kerwin
Heaven's Gate
1980 · Billy Irvine
The Elephant Man
1980 · John Merrick
Alien
1979 · Kane
Watership Down
1978 · Hazel (voice)
The Shout
1978 · Anthony Fielding