Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

(Sir) John Hurt

Actor

Born - 22 January 1940, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Died - 27 January 2017

Dry-voiced, slightly-built British actor with tousled brown hair whose unusual looks and personality adapted to a wide variety of offbeat star and character roles. At his best he could give extremely moving performances, although triumph and disaster were well mixed in an on-off film career. After early roles in The Wild and the Willing (1962) and This is My Street (1963), he sprang to the fore with his portrait of the duplicitous Rich in A Man for All Seasons (1966). Scores of film appearances followed, including those in The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967), In Search of Gregory (1968), Sinful Davey (1969), 10 Rillington Place (1970) and The Ghoul (1974). His portrayal of the flamboyant homosexual Quentin Crisp in TV's The Naked Civil Servant (1975) was much admired, and, after Oscar nominations for Midnight Express (1978) and The Elephant Man (1980), his strained features were put through the mill in other demanding roles: Alien (1979), Champions (1983), '1984' (1984), White Mischief (1987), Frankenstein Unbound (1990), Great Moments in Aviation (1993), Rob Roy (1995), Contact (1997), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), Crime and Punishment (2002), Hellboy (2004), V for Vendetta (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Brighton Rock (2010), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Jackie (2016) and a clutch of films awaiting release: My Name is Lenny, That Good Night, Damascus Cover and Darkest Hour, his last. Four times married, he died from pancreatic cancer. Knighted in 2015.