The Devastating Death Of William Hurt
Academy Award-winning actor William Hurt, known to millions of fans for his many decades in the film and television industry, has died at the age of 71 (via Variety). Deadline reports that the actor's son, Will, confirmed his father's death in a statement provided to the outlet.
"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 statement said (via Deadline). "The family requests privacy at this time."
Though no exact cause of death has been confirmed at the moment, Hurt was known to have been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2018 (via YouTube). Upon his diagnosis, Hurt underwent SEF (side-effect free) chemotherapy treatment at the Berkeley Institute under the care of Dr. Kenneth Matsumura. In the years since, Hurt has been notably vocal about his support for Matsumura's particular form of treatment (via WinkNews).
Hurt is remembered for the vast breadth of his work
Throughout his career, Hurt appeared as an actor in more than 100 different on-screen productions (via IMDb) and was nominated for an Academy Award a total of four times, winning it once (via Oscars). Hurt's first three Oscar nominations as a leading actor were all consecutive, following his first nomination and win in 1986 for the film "Kiss of the Spider Woman." A single year later, he was nominated for his role in "Children of a Lesser God." He followed this up with yet another nomination in 1988 for "Broadcast News." The actor's final Oscar nomination came courtesy of a supporting role in the 2005 action thriller "A History of Violence," in which Hurt appeared alongside Viggo Mortensen (via IMDb).
Of course, Hurt is also remembered for his long-running set of appearances as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hurt made his debut appearance as the popular film franchise's military man in 2008's "The Incredible Hulk." He later reprised the role in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War," 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War," 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" and 2021's "Black Widow."
Some of Hurt's final on-screen appearances include his television roles on the Amazon Prime Video drama series "Goliath" and the Apple TV+ comedy series "Mythic Quest." According to the actor's IMDb profile, Hurt was set to appear in a number of yet-to-be-released projects, including an animated AMC series called "Pantheon" and three films that are currently reported to be in the pre-production phase at this time.
Hurt is survived by four children (via The Hollywood Reporter).