In recent years, he has worked more in television, including the FX series “Damage” and the British science fiction drama “The Humans”. It was also in 2013 in the TV movie “The Challenger Disaster,” which prompted the guard in a 2015 interview to ask him if he’d be interested in space travel.
“I’m interested in all the prospects and what’s on the other side of them,” he said. “We know less about the ocean than we do about space. I love to swim, float and fly.”
William McCord Hurt was born March 20, 1950 in Washington, the son of Alfred Hurt, a career diplomat, and Claire Isabel (McGill) Hurt, who worked for Time Inc. When Bill was six years old, his parents divorced, and his mother is married Henry Luce IIIthe son of the founder of Time magazine.
Mr. Hurt attended Tufts University and went on to study acting at Juilliard University. By the second half of the 1970s, he was drawing notice on the New York stages, notably appearing in Lanford Wilson’s play “5th of July” in Circle Rep in 1978. In 1981 Frank Rich singled out his review of “Childe Byron” in Circle Rep for The Times, and singled out him.
“Hollywood may have now discovered William Hurt (“The Changing States,” “Eye Witness”), but he has not lost any of that crazy sharpness that makes him so happy to watch in the theatre,” Mr. Rich Review started. What makes this talented actor so special — and inevitably a star — is his ability to create his own reality on stage. While he can create a powerful character when he wants to (as he did with Kenneth Tully in the original production of ‘The Fifth of July’), he’s willing to be wonderful without any help from a playwright.”
If his acting attracts raves, then Mr. Hurt’s personal life has been rocky. He had an affair with his co-star Marley Matlin “Sons of a Younger God”, which she later described as abusive. A long-running affair with dancer Sandra Jennings went to court in 1989, with Ms. Jennings claiming, unsuccessfully, that they were in fact married. His marriage to Mary Beth Hurt and Heidi Henderson ended in divorce.
. “Professional creator. Lifelong thinker. Reader. Beer buff. Troublemaker. Evil problem solver.”