John Hurt, the wizened, rasping star of David Lynch’s The Elephant Man and what is likely the most widely viewed adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, has passed away. He was 77.
Hurt was nominated twice for Academy Awards, including a nod for his titular role in The Elephant Man, a period biopic about a severely deformed man that required Hurt to work under heavy makeup. Other notable roles include his turn as Caligula in the BBC’s critically acclaimed 1976 adaptation of the Robert Graves novel I, Claudius and chest-burster victim Kane in Ridley Scott’s Alien (not to mention his parody of the role in Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs).
Hurt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015.
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