William McCord Hurt is a famous American actor, producer, winner of the Academy Awards, the British Academy, the Cannes Film Festival for his role in the film The Kiss of the Spider Woman. Viewers know him from the films: "King of Queens", "Skirmish", "Dune", "Jane Eyre", "Mysterious Forest", "Who are you, Mr. Brooks?", "Goliath", "Season of Wonders", "Avengers: The final".
The actor's creative biography includes more than a hundred roles in television and film projects, including participation in show programs, documentaries and award ceremonies: Oscar, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy.
William began his career on the stage in New York, where he played many roles in classical and contemporary plays. In 1980 he came to the cinema and immediately got the main role in the fantastic thriller "Other Hypostases".
Biography facts
The future actor was born in America in the spring of 1950. His parents had nothing to do with creativity and worked in the US State Department.
When William was still very young, his parents separated. Soon my mother got married a second time. The boy's stepfather was Henry Lewis III, the son of a famous businessman, founder of Time magazine.
From childhood, William showed an interest in creativity. He studied at Middlesex School, where, already in junior school, he began to take an active part in all productions and festive events.
Later he became first a member of the drama studio, and then the president of the theater club. Many teachers told the young man that a wonderful creative career awaits him and, perhaps, in the near future he will perform on the Broadway stage. But William did not immediately choose the acting profession.
After completing his primary education, he entered the university at the Faculty of Theology. But he soon realized that he was literally attracted by the scene. Then he applied to the Juilliard School of Drama and, having passed the competitive selection, became a student of the acting department. After graduating from high school, Hurt joined a theater troupe in New York.
Creative way
Hurt performed on the stage for several years. He played in many famous productions: Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the play "Hurleyberly", and was awarded the Obie Award for his role in the play "My Life". In total, the actor played in more than fifty productions and received well-deserved recognition from theater critics and the public.
In those same years, William began working on radio, where he took part in radio performances and read works of famous authors. He also took part in the scoring of documentary projects dedicated to history, literature and theater.
Hurt got into the cinema in 1980 and immediately got the main role in the film "Other Hypostases". The film was directed by Ken Russell. The plot is built around the scientist Eddie Jessup, who believes that an altered state of consciousness is as real as the surrounding reality. Using hallucinogens, Eddie tries to shut off all his senses in order to explore a new space of consciousness.
The film received high marks from viewers and film critics. Hurt was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Breakthrough of the Year category. The tape itself received several nominations for awards: "Oscar" and "Saturn", grossed about $ 20 million at the box office.
A year later, William again got the lead role in the thriller "The Witness". He played the humble janitor Darryl Deaver, who is secretly in love with TV journalist Tony. Suddenly, an event occurs in Darryl's life that completely changed his future destiny. He discovers the body of a famous politician and states that he witnessed the crime only in order to get to know Tony. But the young man does not even suspect that the real killers decide to get rid of the witness, believing in his fictional story.
In the same year, Hurt appeared in the title role in another film - the thriller Body Heat. He played lawyer Ned Racine, who met and fell in love with the beautiful woman Mattie Walker. Matty is married to a wealthy businessman and one day she offers Ned to help her get rid of her husband so that they can finally be together and, in addition, get a huge fortune.
The role of Mattie Walker was played by the then aspiring actress Kathleen Turner, receiving two nominations for this work at once for the Golden Globe and the British Academy.
In 1985, Hurt got the lead role in the drama "The Kiss of the Spider Woman." The plot of the picture unfolds in a South American prison, where two prisoners are sitting in the same cell, who got there for completely different reasons and have completely different views on life. Now they will have to learn to respect and understand each other.
For this work, William received the Oscars, the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Award, the National Council of Reviewers prize, the Independent Spirit Special Award and the Tokyo Film Festival Special Prize.
In the late 1980s, the actor was very popular in big cinema and starred in many famous films that brought him well-deserved success and fame.
In the 1990s, Hurt began to devote more time to television projects, and then for some time practically disappeared from the screens.
The next round of popularity fell on the 2000s. The actor was invited to play in the fantasy drama Artificial Intelligence by Steven Spielberg. His work in Justified Violence, where Hurt only appeared on screen for a few minutes, earned him an Oscar nomination.
Currently, the actor continues to appear in new projects. Of his last works, it is worth noting roles in projects: "Season of Miracles", "Avengers: Infinity War", "Avengers: Endgame", "Condor".
Personal life
At the age of twenty-one, Hurt married aspiring actress Mary Beth Hurts. Their marriage lasted eleven years and ended in divorce in 1982.
In 1989, William became the husband of actress Heidi Henderson. In this marriage, the couple had two sons, but in 1993 the husband and wife divorced.
Hurt also had a relationship with actress Sandrine Bonner, who bore him a daughter, and with ballerina Sandra Jennings, who bore him a son.
