William Hurt, Star of 'Broadcast News,' 'Body Heat,' Dies

William Hurt was one of the best leading men of the 1980s, thanks to his charisma and self-assuredness as an actor. He died at the age of 71.

Will said in a statement that Hurt died of natural causes. His son said Hurt died peacefully. The Hollywood Reporter said he died in Portland. The first report of Hurt's death was from Deadline. Hurt was previously diagnosed with cancer that had spread to the bone.

After his breakthrough in 1980, Hurt was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

In Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 steamy neo noir, Hurt and Kathleen Turner starred as a lawyer and murderer. In 1983, Hurt played the brooding Vietnam War veteran Nick Carlton, one of a group of college pals who gather for their friend's funeral.

Hurt was born in Washington D.C. and traveled widely as a child while attending boarding school in Massachusetts. His parents separated when he was young. The son of the Time magazine founder married Hurt's mother when he was 10. Hurt first appeared on the New York stage with the Circle Repertory Company after studying acting at Julliard. He was nominated for a Tony for his performance in David Rabe's Hurlyburly.

Hurt won the best actor Oscar for his performance as a gay prisoner in a repressive South American dictatorship.

Hurt accepted the award and said he was proud to be an actor.

Marlee Matlin won the Oscar for her performance in Children of a Lesser God. Hurt was a speech teacher. Hurt and Matlin's romance was off-screen, but it wasn't the first time Hurt had found fame.

Mary Beth Hurt was Hurt's first wife. Hurt's divorce from Mary Beth Hurt was caused by a relationship he had with a pregnant woman. Six years later, a high-profile court case began in which she claimed to be Hurt's common-law wife and thus entitled to a share of his earnings. The actor had a strained relationship with fame despite a New York court ruling in his favor.

In 1983, Hurt told The New York Times that acting is very private and intimate. You have to learn a craft, technique, even though you bumped up against other people. It's work. It's odd that my acting is assumed to be a clamor for attention to my person, as if I needed so much love or so much attention that I would give up my right to be a private person.

Matlin detailed physical and emotional abuse in her memoir. At the time of its publication, Hurt apologized and both did a great deal to heal their lives.

Hurt was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 He developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. The New Yorker described Hurt as "notoriously temperamental" and he married a woman who he met at a rehabilitation center. They had two children. Hurt had a daughter with Sandrine Bonnaire, who he met while making a film called The Plague.

James L.Brooks was Hurt's greatest performance as a slick but lightweight anchorman inBroadcast News.

Albert Brooks, Hurt's co-star, was sad to hear of Hurt's passing. He will be missed.

Hurt fell out of favor with filmmakers in the 90s because of his reputation. Hurt told The Los Angeles Times in 1994 that he gives more by solving the truth than by pretending.

Hurt said that if a director tells him to make the audience think or feel something, he will revolt. The whole piece says something that I have agreed to. I only have to solve the truth of the piece. I don't owe anyone anything.

Hurt continued to pile up credits, including Woody Allen and Wayne Wong.

Hurt gradually became a character actor. He received his fourth Oscar nomination for his role in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence.

In the years leading up to his death, Hurt worked on 10 episodes ofDamages and a string of films from the Disney and Pixar companies.

Hurt often suggested that his run in the 80s was the outlier to what made him an actor.

He told The Telegraph in 2004 that success is isolating. It was not in line with what I was aiming at. I didn't want to be isolated. I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't want a big target on my chest. Sometimes I'm confused about it.

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