Sun, March 13, 2022, 3:50 PM William Hurt, an acclaimed actor best known for his Oscar-winning performance in 1985’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and his work in “The Big Chill” and “Body Heat,” died Sunday of natural causes. He was 71 years old. Hurt’s death was confirmed to Variety by his friend, Gerry Byrne. William Hurt’s son, Will, posted today that his father has died. It was announced in May 2018 that the elder Hurt had terminal prostate cancer that had spread to the bone. “It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday. He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”
My favorite William Hurt movies were The Big Chill and Body Heat. The soundtrack from The Big Chill is outstanding.
How sad ,I liked his movie The Doctor it was a great movie and I always said every doctor should watch this movie, But I also understand dr.s have to try not get too emotional or involved in their care,
I liked The Doctor, too. I often say that doctors should have to have the treatments they prescribe for patients; it would give them a whole new outlook. (My oncologist is a 2-time cancer survivor (blood and bone), and I felt like he could "hear" me. He understands what it's like to sit on the other side of the exam table. ) I enjoyed most of Hurt's films, like Altered States and Gorky Park.
How good that he understood, like the movie only those who actually go thru it really know. Beth you were lucky to have that doctor. if there is a such thing as luck when speaking of cancer, I admire how well you handled it .
Beth, just read your opening post. His son stated that he died of natural causes, then a few sentences later, he stated about the prostate cancer. Didn't know prostate cancer was "natural causes".
In simple terms, natural causes refer to internal factors — like a medical condition or a disease — as opposed to external factors, like trauma from an accident. In other words, natural causes could be anything from cancer to heart disease to diabetes.
I find the backgrounds of entertainers to be fascinating. Some are unglamorous (like Charles Bronson [Buchinsky nee Bučinskis] working in coal mines from the age of 10) to other children of immigrants also growing up in borderline-impoverished circumstances to Hurt having lived internationally as a kid... Hurt was born in DC. His mother worked for Time, Inc. and his father worked for USAID and the State Department. Hurt's parents divorced, and he and his brother lived with their father in Lahore, Mogadishu and Khartoum. He attended Middlesex School (Concord, Mass) when it was still an all-boys school. He later went to Tufts University (also in Mass) to study theology, and then switched to Julliard School in NYC. Wiki does not have nice things to say about the way he treated women (his wife [divorced] and various others.) He had one child by his wife and three children with two other women, one of whom unsuccessfully sued for common law marriage benefits, and one who claimed physical (and drug) abuse in their relationship. If true, you gotta wonder where the anger came from. Maybe that's why I like "Second Best"...his personal issues may have come through in that story. For me, he's not one of those who comes to mind when you list "great actors," but when his name comes up I claim him to be one of my favorites. "Altered States" is the first movie that I think of when his name is mentioned, but it's not my favorite Hurt flick. I also wonder what the real story is when those "of means" die of things like this. He was only 71. Did he not seek care soon enough, or is this further evidence that there are times when all the money in the world can't fix things?
Who knows. Some people won't go to the doctor until symptoms are bad enough and then it's too late. Other times it's a more aggressive cancer. When I was diagnosed I remembered that John Travolta's wife had recently died while being treated for breast cancer at MD Anderson.
Thanks for background of Hurt, although I didn't care for the movie ' Second Best' I did really like the actor and now know more about him.
I need to watch that one again. Last night I watched The Big Chill; I have seen it dozens of times but I was in the mood to see one of his films and I found that one first.