Hurt was born John Vincent Hurt on 22 January 1940 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the son of Phyllis (née Massey; 1907–1975), an engineer and one-time actress, and Arnold Herbert Hurt (1904–1999), a mathematician who became a Church of England clergyman and served as vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Shirebrook, Derbyshire
22 January 1940