Favorite John Hurt film performances

norvan5

norvan5

Well-known member
I was lucky enough to catch John Hurt performing in 'Krapps Last Tape' on the stage of the Gate Theatre Dublin at the weekend. Really cool to see this living legend in person in one of his most famous stage roles.


The experience got me thinking of stand-out John Hurt screen performances. A personal favorite of mine is his supporting turn in 'The Field'. He's hardly recognizable as John Hurt in the part:



Here's an earlier performance of his as Krapp in the Beckett play I mentioned above (part of the Beckett on Film project):




And yes, I thought he was great in Hellboy too! Do you have a personal favorite John Hurt screen performance?
 
Its been an awful long time but I remember being really impressed with his role in 'midnight express' and '1984'. He is also one of those guys that never seemed to advance beyond some indeterminate middle-age, a little like Donald Pleasence, or maybe even Ben Kingsley.
 
hscully said:
Wow... lucky you. Hurt doing Beckett live must be a great night.
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It certainly was. The Gate is such a great space for smaller productions and really suited this one-man/single-set play. Hurt seemed in good humor too and played around with some audience expectations, such as making a point of stepping over the banana peel at the start rather than the usual slap-stick slip. He received a standing ovation at the end too which he seemed to accept with genuine warmth and surprise.
 
LyleGorch said:
He is also one of those guys that never seemed to advance beyond some indeterminate middle-age, a little like Donald Pleasence, or maybe even Ben Kingsley.
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I agree. Hurt is 73, I believe. He looked to me to be a worn 55 year old the other night.
 
This might raise a chuckle. It seems John Hurt is considered somewhat of a master of the death scene too, judging by this little round-up I found on Youtube. SPOILERS abound in this vid (as does a bad music track):
 
Alien was a great great movie but John Hurt's acting was not something I remember that scene for.

Hey is acting was good in his brief screen time in Alien, but there are so many memorable and textured highlights in his career
 
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