William Hurt
Biography
Life Story
William McChord Hurt was born in Washington, D.C., to Claire Isabel (McGill) and Alfred McChord Hurt, who worked at the State Department. He was trained at Tufts University and The Juilliard School and has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including the most recent nomination for his supporting role in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence (2005). Hurt received Best Supporting Actor accolades for the role from the Los Angeles Film Critics circle and the New York Film Critics Circle.
Hurt spent the early years of his career on the stage between drama school, summer stock, regional repertory and off-Broadway, appearing in more than fifty productions including "Henry V", "5th of July", "Hamlet", "Uncle Vanya", "Richard II", "Hurlyburly" (for which he was nominated for a Tony Award), "My Life" (winning an Obie Award for Best Actor), "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" and "Good". For radio, Hurt read Paul Theroux's "The Grand Railway Bazaar", for the BBC Radio Four and "The Shipping News" by Annie Proulx. He has recorded "The Polar Express", "The Boy Who Drew Cats", "The Sun Also Rises" and narrated the documentaries, "Searching for America: The Odyssey of John Dos Passos", "Einstein-How I See the World" and the English narration of Elie Wiesel's "To Speak the Unspeakable", a documentary directed and produced by Pierre Marmiesse. In 1988, Hurt was awarded the first Spencer Tracy Award from UCLA.
Family
Heidi Henderson (5 March 1989 - 1 August 1993)
Trivia
His ex-wife, Heidi, is the daughter of Skitch Henderson.
He lived with Sandra Jennings from 1981-1984.
Lives in Oregon with his two sons, Willie and Sam from his marriage to Heidi Henderson. [2004]
Turned down the role played by Sam Neill in Jurassic Park (1993).
He is the son of Claire Isabel (McGill) and Alfred McChord Hurt, who worked in the state department. His stepfather, Henry Luce III, was the son of Time magazine founder Henry Luce.
Recipient of the first Spencer Tracy Award in 1988 for outstanding screen performances.
He is an avid private pilot with taildragger experience.
Turned down the lead role of Paul Sheldon in Misery (1990).
Speaks French fluently.
Has four children: Daughter Jeanne Bonnaire-Hurt (born February 1, 1994) with Sandrine Bonnaire, son Alexander Devon Hurt (born 1983) with Sandra Jennings, and sons Samuel Hurt (born August 7, 1989) and William Hurt (born 1991) with ex-wife Heidi Henderson.
Personal Quotes
I'm still not comfortable with all this. I'm not comfortable with walking the red carpet in a tuxedo and seeing all the women with their boobs pushed up and all the men dressed as penguins - particularly when the subject of your film is the nature of violence and humanity. But that's the nature of Cannes. That's the process that we are both dealing with today.
The simple fact of existence, of being aware that you are aware; this to me is the most astounding fact. And I think that it has something to do with dying. When you are a kid you are beset by fears and you think, 'I'll solve the fear by living for ever and becoming a movie star.' But I am not going to live for ever. And the more I know it, the more amazed I am by being here at all. I am so thrilled by the privilege of life, and yet at the same time I know that I have to let it go.
[on drinking] This is a big subject. And I don't want to use my troubles as an example of what to do and what not to do. But there's that old credo, in vino veritas. In wine lies truth. And a lot of people believe that. But one day you wake up and say, 'This is stupid and this is wrong.' And it was wrong, so I did something about it. It's a complete myth that living life on the edge is conducive to great acting. But it's also another myth to think that you should be as tight as a drum and not have any frailties or fragilities. So you have to find that balance. All I know is that my best work has come out of being committed and happy.
A lot of people are taking those risks on the basis of something so unconsidered that it's completely capricious. That's one of the reasons why actors are not respected anymore as actors.
I am not an actor. I'm just a man who likes acting. I am what I am. I am nobody. I don't exist. But the work exists. The work is more than the actor.
I am a character actor in a leading man's body.
I am not a star, I am an actor.
[on being taken hostage in Brazil while filming Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)] - We had 36 hours off from filming and me and my date at the time get into a car and we drove south to a village where her parents had a small villa in a very modest town with dirt streets. And as we drove into the driveway at midnight a car pulled up behind us and blocked our exit. The engine of that car was turned off. There were four people in it: two men and two women. One of the men had a ski mask on ... . The one man leaned out the window and he said to us in Portuguese and I asked my date what he said, and she turned white. She said "He wants directions. So she knew right away. And after that the doors of the car opened and they both got out with guns. [Hurt and his date were let go some hours later.]
