One of Britain's most esteemed and prolific actors, John Hurt fashioned an international career as a consummate screen chameleon, living his parts to the fullest without revealing the man behind the mask. He emerged from the London drama stage to film stardom in the late 1970s with a pair of powerhouse performances in “Midnight Express” (1978) and “Alien” (1979) – roles which established Hurt’s strength for playing mental and physical suffering. In addition to his other renowned characters of torment – most famously, “The Elephant Man” (1980) – Hurt’s palette grew to include many a baleful deadbeat, such as in “Night Train” (1998); morally compromised nobleman, as portrayed in “Rob Roy” (1995) and “V for Vendetta” (2006); as well as an increasing number of academics and authors after the actor hit age 60, including roles in “Love and Death on Long Island” (1997) and “Hellboy” (2004). Despite the character actor’s naturalistic portraits, there was no denying Hurt also had an eye for the commercial as well. After making one of the most memorable scenes in film history – the stomach-bursting dinner scene – in the popular “Alien” franchise, to ensuring decades later further film immortality with his role in the highly anticipated “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) revisit, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Scull” (2008).John Hurt was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on Jan. 22, 1940. The son of a rigid Anglican minister, Hurt was not allowed to see the films at his local movie house, but when he was sent away to Catholic boarding school in Kent, the sheltered lad joined a school play and quickly decided that his future was as an actor. His lackluster academic performance at a series of schools supported that career trajectory, but his parents did not. They did, however, respond to Hurt’s fine art talent and allowed him to pursue a future as an art teacher. Hurt attended the Grimsby Art School before landing a scholarship to the teacher’s certification program at Central St. Martin’s College in London. But after several years in the creatively swinging city, Hurt scrapped the teaching idea and returned his focus to the stage, spending two years studying at the renowned Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before he was quickly embraced for his thespian skills.
Fresh out of RADA in 1962, Hurt made his professional stage debut in "Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger" and his feature debut in "The Young and the Willing” (1962), earning raves the following year onstage in Harold Pinter's "The Dwarfs." Hurt came to Broadway in the title