In recent years he has worked extensively on television, including the FX series “Damages” and the British science fiction drama “Humans”. He also starred in the 2013 TV movie “The Challenger Disaster”, which in a 2015 interview prompted The Guardian to ask him if he was interested in space travel.
“I’m interested in all the horizons and what is on the other side,” he said. “We know less about the ocean than about space. “I like to swim, float and fly.”
William McChord Hurt was born on March 20, 1950, in Washington, DC, the son of Alfred Hurt, a career diplomat, and Claire Isabel (McGill) Hurt, who worked for Time Inc. When Bill was 6, his parents divorced and his mother married Henry Luce III, the son of Time magazine founder.
Mr. Hert attended Tufts University and continued his acting studies at Juilliard. By the second half of the 1970s, he was appearing on stage in New York, appearing mainly in Lanford Wilson’s “Fifth of July” on Circle Rep in 1978. In 1981, Frank Rich commented on “Childe Byron” on Circle Rep for The Times singled him out.
“William Hurt may have just been discovered by Hollywood (‘Altered States’, ‘Aw eyewitness’), but he has not lost any of this crazy intensity that makes him happy to watch in the theater,” his critique began. Mr. Rich. “What makes this talented actor so special – and, inevitably, a star – is his ability to create his own reality on stage. While he can create a strong character when he wants to (as he did with Kenneth Talley in the original production of “Fifth of July”), he is ready to be exciting without any help from a playwright. “
If his acting aroused excitement, Mr. Hert’s personal life was difficult. He had an affair with “Children of a Lesser God” co-star Marlee Matlin, whom he later described as abusive. A long-term relationship with dancer Sandra Jennings landed in court in 1989, with Ms. Jennings unsuccessfully claiming that they were in fact married. His marriages to Mary Beth Hurt and Heidi Henderson ended in divorce.
