The British actor of stage and screen also received an Academy Award nom for 'Midnight Express' and was memorable in 'Alien,' three Harry Potter films and 'Doctor Who.'

John Hurt, the esteemed British actor known for his burry voice and weathered visage — one that was kept hidden for his most acclaimed role, that of the deformed John Merrick in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man — died Friday in London. He was 77.

The two-time Oscar nominee's six-decade career also included turns on the BBC’s Doctor Who and in A Man for All Seasons (1966), Midnight Express (1978) and three Harry Potter films.

Hurt announced in June 2015 that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

On screens big and small, Hurt died what seemed a thousand deaths. “I think I’ve got the record,” he once said. “It got to a point where my children wouldn’t ask me if I died, but rather how do you die?”

On his YouTube page, a video titled “The Many Deaths of John Hurt” compiled his cinematic demises in 4 minutes and 30 seconds, from The Wild and the Willing (1962) to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), 40 in all.

One of his most memorable came when he played Kane, the first victim in Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), in which he collapses over a table and a snakelike alien bursts out of his chest. (How'd they do that? There was an artificial chest screwed to the table, and Hurt was underneath.)

“Ridley didn’t tell the cast,” executive producer Ronald Shusett told Empire magazine in 2009. “He said, ‘They’re just going to see it.’”

Explained Scott: “The reactions were going to be the most difficult thing. If an actor is just acting terrified, you can’t get the genuine look of raw, animal fear. What I wanted was a hardcore reaction.”

Hurt then lampooned the famous torso-busting scene for director Mel Brooks — whose production company produced 1980's The Elephant Man — for the 1987 comedy Spaceballs.

The Elephant Man received eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Hurt as best actor, but went home empty on Oscar night. (Hurt lost out to Robert De Niro as boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull.)

In 1980, he recalled the extensive makeup needed to become the kind-hearted man with the monstrous skull.

“It never occurred to me it would take eight hours for them to apply the full thing — virtually a working day in itself. There were 16 different pieces to that mask,” he said. “With all that makeup on, I couldn’t be sure what I was doing. I had to rely totally on [Lynch].”

Hurt also garnered an Oscar best supporting actor nomination and a Golden Globe win in 1979 for Midnight Express, in which he portrayed a heroin addict in a Turkish prison. The Alan Parker drama was based on the true story of Billy Hayes (played by Brad Davis), an American college student caught smuggling drugs.

“I loved making Midnight Express,” he said in 2014. “We were making commercial films then that really did have cracking scenes in them, as well as plenty to say, you know?”

His more recent film appearances came in Snowpiercer (2013), The Journey (2016) and Jackie (2016). He is set to be seen in the upcoming features That Good Night and My Name Is Lenny and was to play Neville Chamberlain in the upcoming Joe Wright drama Darkest Hour.

John Vincent Hurt was born Jan. 22, 1940, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. He studied art at his parents’ behest, earning an art teacher’s diploma. Disillusioned with the prospect of becoming a teacher, Hurt moved to London, where he won an acting scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He studied there for two years, securing bit parts on TV shows.

“I wanted to act very early. I didn’t know how to become an actor, as such, nor did I know that it was possible to be a professional actor, but I first decided that I wanted to act when I was 9,” Hurt told The Guardian in 2000. “I was effused with a feeling of complete and total enjoyment, and I felt that’s where I should be.”

He made his London stage debut in Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger in 1962. That year, Hurt acted in his first film, The Wild and the Willing, and his role as the duplicitous baron Richard Rich in Oscar best picture winner A Man for All Seasons helped him become more widely known in the U.S.

He often played wizened, sinister characters. In his younger years, his wiry frame, sallow skin and beady eyes curled together in performances that bespoke menace and hard-wrought wisdom. Hurt was especially effective playing psychologically ravaged characters, like when he was a jockey plagued with cancer in Champions (1984) or the viciously decadent Caligula in the 1976 BBC miniseries I, Claudius.

He brought his peculiarly powerful persona to the role of Mr. Ollivander in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) and Part 2 (2011).

Hurt also had a recurring role as Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm in Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) and was the voice of the character in the 2007 TV movie Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron.

Other film credits include The Sailor From Gibraltar (1967), Sinful Davey (1969), 10 Rillington Place (1971), The Osterman Weekend (1983), White Mischief (1987), King Ralph (1991) and Rob Roy (1995). He played a fascist leader of Great Britain in V for Vendetta (2006) and was Professor Oxley in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Hurt also was known for his rich, nicotine-toned timbre, which won him many voiceover assignments. He was the narrator in The Tigger Movie (2000), Dogville (2003), Manderlay (2005) and Charlie Countryman (2013) and lent his dulcet utterances to The Lord of the Rings (1978), Watership Down (1978), The Black Cauldron (1985), Thumbelina (1994) and the Oscar-nominated short film The Gruffalo (2009).

“I have always been aware of voice in film. I think that it’s almost 50 percent of your equipment [as an actor],” he once said. “It’s as important as what you look like, certainly on stage and possibly on film as well. If you think of any of the great American stars, you think of their voices and their looks, any of them — from Clark Gable to Rock Hudson.”

For the small screen, Hurt starred on the TV shows The Storyteller, The Alan Clark Diaries, The Confession and Merlin and in the miniseries Crime and Punishment and Labyrinth. He notably played the War Doctor in the 2013-14 season of Doctor Who.

On participating in the Whovian fandom, Hurt said in 2013: “I’ve done a couple of conferences where you sit and sign autographs for people and then you have photographs taken with them and a lot of them are all dressed up in alien suits or Doctor Who whatevers. I was terrified of doing it because I thought they’d all be loonies, but they are absolutely, totally charming as anything. I’m not saying it’s the healthiest thing — I don’t know whether it is or isn’t — but they are very charming.”

The accomplished stage actor performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1994, he starred opposite Helen Mirren in Bill Bryden’s West End production of A Month in the Country, and he scraped out an edgy and vigorously dour performance in Samuel Beckett’s autobiographical one-man drama Krapp’s Last Tape in 1999.

When asked about the difference between film and stage acting, Hurt explained: “It’s rather like two different sports. You use two completely different sets of muscles.”

In 2012, Hurt was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, then was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in July 2015.

Survivors include his fourth wife Anwen Rees-Myers, whom he married in 2005, and sons Alexander and Nicholas.</s>Sir John Vincent Hurt, legendary actor and star of such classic films as The Elephant Man, Alien, and Midnight Express, has died at the age of 77.

In a Radio Times interview from 2015, the last interview he gave, John Hurt spoke openly about his battle with pancreatic cancer and claimed he was not afraid of death.

“I can’t say I worry about mortality, but it’s impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it,” Hurt said. “We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly. But my treatment is going terrifically well, so I’m optimistic.”

John Hurt was nominated for an Academy Award for best lead actor in 1981 for his portrayal of John Merrick, a severely deformed man in late 19th century London, in David Lynch’s classic film, The Elephant Man.

Other classic John Hurt performances include his roles as Kane in Alien, Professor Broom in Hellboy, Mr. Ollivander in the Harry Potter movies, the War Doctor in Dr. Who, Max in Midnight Express, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor, and countless other TV and movie roles dating back to the early 1960’s. In 2013, John Hurt was given a BAFTA lifetime achievement award for his amazing contribution to cinema.

John Hurt also famously played the lead role of Winton Smith in the screen adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984.

According to his page on IMDb, John Hurt was born in the small coal mining village of Shirebrook, England, in 1940. His family later moved to Grimsby where Hurt studied acting at Grimsby Art School. Hurt late enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he often appeared in offbeat plays, such as Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger in 1962. It was in 1962 when he made his film debut in a film called Young and Willing, thereby launching the career of one of the great character actors of our era. It would be hard to be a person who watches TV or film without having seen Hurt in at least a dozen appearances, often stealing the scenes in which he appears.

John Hurt stayed busy until his death. IMDb lists four films to be released in 2017 in which he appears, including a World War II drama called Darkest Hour in which he was cast as Neville Chamberlain, England’s Prime Minister prior to Winston Churchill.

John Hurt was also a gifted voice actor, lending his voice to numerous animated films and radio plays.

In a 2000 interview with The Guardian, John Hurt discussed what made him want to become an actor and what acting meant to him, saying that he first decided he wanted to act at the age of nine, even before he realized it was something he could possibly do for a career.

“Pretending to be other people is my game and that to me is the essence of the whole business of acting,” Hurt said. “Dame Edith Evans was once being interviewed by a very zealous young man down from Oxford on television and saying: “Tell me, Dame Edith, how do you go about it? What do you do? Do you research it? How do you get into them?” and finally she just said: “I pretend, dear boy.”. It may be a rather simplistic way of putting it! I remember once when I told Lindsay Anderson at a party that acting was just a sophisticated way of playing cowboys and Indians he almost had a fit.”

John Hurt was a beloved actor and friend to many who had the pleasure of working with him. He will be missed dearly, but often remembered by his family, friends, and fans.</s>Veteran actor Sir John Hurt has died at 77 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

The Oscar-nominated star was well known for roles including Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant, the title role in The Elephant Man and wand merchant Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter films.

His agent, Charles McDonald, confirmed his death to the Press Association on Saturday.

The British actor was nominated for two Academy Awards, for The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, and won four Bafta Awards, including a lifetime achievement recognition for his outstanding contribution to British cinema in 2012.

Hollywood legend Mel Brooks described him as “a truly magnificent talent”.

“No one could have played The Elephant Man more memorably. He carried that film into cinematic immortality. He will be sorely missed,” he added.

Stephen Fry celebrated the “great man” for excelling as an actor, whether he was working in cinema, television or on the stage.

Richard E Grant tweeted: “So so sad to have lost such an extraordinary talent and friend. Sir John Hurt. R. I. P.”

Sir John told the Press Association of his diagnosis in June 2015.

He said : ‘’I have always been open about the way in which I conduct my life and in that spirit I would like to make a statement.

‘’I have recently been diagnosed with early stage pancreatic cancer. I am undergoing treatment and am more than optimistic about a satisfactory outcome, as indeed is the medical team.

‘’I am continuing to focus on my professional commitments and will shortly be recording Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (one of life’s small ironies!) for BBC Radio 4.’’

He later told the Radio Times: “I can’t say I worry about mortality, but it’s impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it.

“We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly. But my treatment is going terrifically well, so I’m optimistic.”

Sir John enjoyed a big hit with sci-fi horror Alien in 1979 and his character’s final scene has been frequently named as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.

He recently found new fans when he starred as a “forgotten” incarnation of the Doctor, known as the War Doctor, in Doctor Who.

He was knighted by the Queen for services to drama at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2015.

Earlier this year Sir John pulled out of a production of John Osborne’s play The Entertainer on medical advice, as he recovered from an intestinal complaint.

He had been due to play Billy Rice in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company production, directed by Rob Ashford.

However, he continued to work at a prodigious rate, starring in Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, thriller Damascus Cover and the upcoming biopic of boxer Lenny McLean, My Name Is Lenny.

He was also filming Darkest Hour, in which he starred as Neville Chamberlain opposite Gary Oldman’s Winston Churchill.

The film focuses on Churchill’s charge against Adolf Hitler’s army in the early days of the Second World War and is due to be released on December 29.

Sir John, who played Caligula in the celebrated BBC drama I, Claudius, also racked up film hits in V for Vendetta, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Hercules.

Other celebrated roles included his performance as Stephen Ward - a key figure in the Profumo affair - in Scandal and a reprisal of his role as Crisp for An Englishman In New York in 2009, 34 years after his original portrayal of the flamboyant figure.

Sir John’s distinctive voice has been used several times as narrator, and accompanied a chilling Aids awareness advertising campaign in the 1980s.

Born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Sir John went to art college before he studied at Rada (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and picked up TV and film roles until he had his major breakthrough, appearing in A Man For All Seasons as Richard Rich.

Sir John achieved further prominence in the film 10 Rillington Place as Timothy Evans who was wrongly executed for the crimes of serial killer John Christie, played by Richard Attenborough.

Childline founder and president Dame Esther Rantzen hailed Sir John, who was a fundraiser for the children’s charity, saying he had an “extraordinary career”.

Dame Esther said she approached him after a London theatre performance, some 30 to 40 years after first meeting him when he was a young actor, and he “immediately agreed” to help the organisation.

She said: “He understood it was a unique way for children to seek help.

“There was something in his own past which made him connect with vulnerable children, I believe it happened when he was in school.

“From then on he never turned us down, he spoke at events for us, telling stories of some of the children we had helped, and took part in carol services for us.

“Because he was such a great artist, I remember writing for him and he gave it so much more strength because of the way he told it.

“He will be a great loss to the children in this country.”</s>Veteran character actor John Hurt, star of movies including Alien and Harry Potter, has died at 77 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

The Oscar-nominated star was well known for roles including Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant, the

title role in The Elephant Man and wand merchant Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter films.

His agent, Charles McDonald, confirmed his death to the Press Association on Saturday.

The British actor was nominated for two Academy Awards, for The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, and won four Bafta Awards, including a lifetime achievement recognition for his outstanding contribution to British cinema in 2012.

Hollywood legend Mel Brooks described him as “a truly magnificent talent”.

“No one could have played The Elephant Man more memorably. He carried that film into cinematic immortality. He will be sorely missed,” he added.

Stephen Fry celebrated the “great man” for excelling as an actor, whether he was working in cinema, television or on the stage.

Richard E Grant tweeted: “So so sad to have lost such an extraordinary talent and friend. Sir John Hurt. R. I. P.”

Sir John told the Press Association of his diagnosis in June 2015.

He said: ‘’I have always been open about the way in which I conduct my life and in that spirit I would like to make a statement.

“I have recently been diagnosed with early stage pancreatic cancer. I am undergoing treatment and am more than optimistic about a satisfactory outcome, as indeed is the medical team.

“I am continuing to focus on my professional commitments and will shortly be recording Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (one of life’s small ironies!) for BBC Radio 4.’’

“He later told the Radio Times: “I can’t say I worry about mortality, but it’s impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it.

“We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly. But my treatment is going terrifically well, so I’m optimistic.”

Sir John enjoyed a big hit with sci-fi horror Alien in 1979 and his character’s final scene has been frequently named as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.

He recently found new fans when he starred as a “forgotten” incarnation of the Doctor, known as the War Doctor, in Doctor Who.

He was knighted by the Queen for services to drama at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2015.</s>British actor Sir John Hurt, of The Elephant Man, Alien and Harry Potter fame, died at the age of 77, Reuters reported on Saturday. The actor had received treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2015 and was recently given the all clear.

In his six-decade long career, Hurt had acted in more than 200 films and television series. His portrayal of the tortured John Merrick in The Elephant Man and characterisation of heroin addict Max in Midnight Express secured him British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards and two Oscar nominations. He was also famous for his role’s in the 1979 science-fiction film Alien and popular BBC television series Doctor Who. In the Harry Potter films, Hurt starred as the intriguing wand-maker Mr Ollivander.

Members of the film fraternity expressed their sorrow over his death. Writer, Director and actor Mel Brooks, on Twitter, said, “It was terribly sad to learn of John Hurt’s passing. He was a truly magnificent talent.” Brooks said Hurt carried that film into “cinematic immortality”. On Twitter, Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood said, “It was such an honor to have watched you work, sir.”

During an interview in 2015, Hurt was quoted as saying, “We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly.” Speaking about his performances during an interaction with film critic Geoff Andrews, Hurt had said, “The only way I can describe it is that I put everything I can into the mulberry of my mind and hope that it is going to ferment and make a decent wine,” BBC reported.</s>File- This Nov. 8, 2013, file photo shows actor John Hurt walking on the red carpet at the 8th edition of the Rome International Film Festival in Rome. The great and versatile actor Sir John Hurt, who could move audiences to tears in ‚ÄúThe Elephant Man,‚Äù terrify them in ‚ÄúAlien,‚Äù and spoof that very same scene in ‚ÄúSpaceballs,‚Äù has died at age 77. Hurt, who battled pancreatic cancer, passed away Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in London according to his agent Charles McDonald. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)</s>Sir John Hurt has died at the age of 77, his agent has confirmed.

The veteran actor, who starred in such films as Alien and The Elephant Man, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015.

However he continued to work, most recently starring in Jackie, a biopic about President John F Kennedy’s wife.

Hurt was given the all-clear in October 2015 but had to pull out of a performance of the play The Entertainer because of ill-health.

Doctors advised him not to play Billy Rice – the father of Sir Kenneth Branagh’s character Archie – and at the time expressed his ‘great sadness and disappointment’ at not being able to perform.

He said of his cancer diagnosis in 2015: ‘I can’t say I worry about mortality, but it’s impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it.

‘We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly. But my treatment is going terrifically well, so I’m optimistic.’

The British actor has been nominated for two Oscars for The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, and four BAFTA Awards including a lifetime achievement recognition in 2012 for his outstanding contribution to British cinema.

One of Sir John’s most memorable scenes on screen came in 1979 sci-fi film Alien. His character’s death by way of a chestburster is thought of as one of the most iconic film deaths in cinematic history.

Fans will also remember his roles as Broom Burttenholm in Hellboy, wand-maker Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter film series, and The War Doctor in Doctor who opposite Matt Smith and David Tennant.

JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, paid tribute on Twitter saying: ‘So very sad to hear that the immensely talented and deeply beloved John Hurt has died. My thoughts are with his family and friends.’

Meanwhile Stephen Fry tweeted: ‘Oh no. What terrible new. We’ve lost #John Hurt as great on the stage, small screen and big. A great man & a great friend of Norfolk & #NCFC.’

Sir John is survived by his wife Anwen Rees-Meyers, a classical pianist and actress who he was married to for 12 years.

MORE: Actor Sir John Hurt diagnosed with pancreatic cancer – but has said he will carry on working

MORE: John Hurt: I loved trending when Doctor Who fans found out I was on the show</s>The Oscar-nominated actor Sir John Hurt has died. He was 77.

Hurt’s agent Charles McDonald says the actor, who battled pancreatic cancer, died Friday in London.

British actor John Hurt holds the Gold Giraldillo Award as a tribute to his career during the Sevilla European film festival in the Andalusian capital of Seville in this 2009 file photo. (REUTERS)

The actor received Academy Award nominations for playing a heroin addict in Midnight Express and the tortured John Merrick in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man. Hurt had a career that spanned over 50 years in television, film and voice work. He terrified audiences in “Alien,” and spoofed that very same scene in Spaceballs.

British actor John Hurt poses with his award after receiving a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor in this 2015 file photo. (REUTERS)

As prolific as ever, Hurt recently appeared alongside Natalie Portman in the Oscar-nominated film Jackie as a priest who consoles the recently widowed first lady. Hurt leaves behind a few production credits, including Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour, where Hurt plays Neville Chamberlain.</s>John Hurt, the widely-admired Bafta-winning English actor who’s known for his roles in “Alien”, “The Elephant Man” and “Harry Potter” died aged 77, a media report said.

Hurt’s agent, Charles McDonald, confirmed his death on Saturday, the BBC reported.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015, the Oscar nominated actor who rose to fame playing flamboyant gay icon Quentin Crisp, died on Friday, McDonald said.

Hurt was given an all-clear in October 2015, but in 2016 he pulled out of play “The Entertainer” due to ill-health.

“Sir John decided not to perform as Billy Rice in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s production on the advice of his doctors,” McDonald said.

No cause of death was, however, immediately known.

“I can’t say I worry about mortality, but it’s impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it,” Hurt had told the Radio Times after the diagnosis.

Hurt had famously said: “We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly.”

Hollywood director Mel Brooks described Sir John as “cinematic immortality”, as tributes poured in for the star.

Brooks paid tribute to Sir John, who had starred in Brooks’ comedy Spaceballs, saying on Twitter: “No one could have played The Elephant Man more memorably.”

Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood said: “It was such an honour to have watched you work, sir.”

British actor Alfred Molina said Sir John was “a gloriously talented actor, one of the best, of this or any era.”

Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, in Chesterfield in Derbyshire. Over six decades, he appeared in more than 120 films as well as numerous stage and television roles.</s>LOS ANGELES — The versatile actor Sir John Hurt, who could move audiences to tears in “The Elephant Man,” terrify them in “Alien,” and spoof that very same scene in “Spaceballs,” has died. He was 77.

Hurt, who battled pancreatic cancer, died Friday in London according to his agent Charles McDonald.

Twice nominated for an Oscar for playing the tortured John Merrick in David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” and for his role as the heroin addict Max in “Midnight Express,” Hurt’s career spanned over 50 years. After minor television and film appearances, his breakout came in 1966 as Richard Rich in Fred Zinnemann’s “A Man For All Seasons,” followed by his portrayal of Caligula in the BBC miniseries “I, Claudius” in 1976.

The wiry Hurt brought gravitas to Alan Parker’s 1978 film “Midnight Express,” for which he received a supporting actor Oscar nomination (he lost to Christopher Walken for “The Deer Hunter”) and an uneasy humour to Kane in Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” immortalized by his disturbing death scene, which Mel Brooks later poked fun at with Hurt’s help in “Spaceballs.”

“It was terribly sad today to learn of John Hurt’s passing,” Mel Brooks wrote on Twitter. “He was a truly magnificent talent.”

Hurt is unrecognizable in perhaps his most memorable role as the lead in David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man.” He endured eight hours in the makeup chair daily to transform into John Merrick. The elaborate mask prohibited him from sleeping lying down or even eating while it was on. His would eat his last meal midmorning as the mask was being applied — usually raw eggs mixed in orange juice — and not again until after midnight.

“To be quite honest, the film was misery to make because of the physical problems, so if it’s working I’m jumping for joy,” Hurt said in a 1980 interview. Hurt did score a lead actor Oscar nomination for the role, but lost out to Robert De Niro’s performance in “Raging Bull.”

Hurt was also a prolific voice actor, appearing as Hazel in the animated “Watership Down,” and as Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi’s “The Lord of the Rings.” He also voiced The Horned King in “The Black Cauldron” and provided the narration for “Dogville.”

In the “Harry Potter” films, Hurt played the wand-maker Mr. Ollivander. In recent years, he appeared in notable fare such as “Melancholia,” ”Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,“ ”Only Lovers Left Alive“ and ”Snowpiercer.“

“We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly,” Hurt said in a 2015 interview while undergoing treatments for the early stage cancer.

As prolific as ever, Hurt recently appeared alongside his “V for Vendetta” co-star Natalie Portman in the Oscar-nominated film “Jackie” as a priest who consoles and advises the recently widowed first lady.

Hurt leaves behind a few in production credits, including Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour” which is listed as still filming. Hurt plays Neville Chamberlain in the film about Winston Churchill’s charge against Hitler. Gary Oldman plays Churchill.

“I have lots of favourite memories but I can’t say that I have a favourite film. I have favourite parts which are not in particularly successful films,” Hurt told The Guardian in 2000. “I’ve worked with people from Fred Zinnemann, John Huston, through to Richard Fleischer, all of those boys from Hollywood and so on and Sam Peckinpah and then the Mike Radfords... I’ve been incredibly lucky with the directors I’ve worked with. You don’t realize it at the time, it’s just in retrospect if you look back you think, ’Jeez, when I saw that CV it nearly frightened the life out of me.’ I thought, ”That’s not bad for an old drunk.“
British actor Sir John Hurt dies at the age of 77.