The Oscar-winning actor William Hurt, who died Sunday at the age of 71, left behind a remarkable body of work, including such classic films as “The Big Chill,” “Broadcast News,” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” for which Hurt won the Academy Award as best actor.
But Oregonians may have their own memories of Hurt, thanks to the time he spent in the state. The Hollywood Reporter noted that one of Hurt’s sons, Will, told the publication that Hurt died Sunday morning at his home in Portland, among family.
Related: William Hurt, star of ‘Broadcast News,’ ‘Body Heat,’ dies
In the early days of his career, Hurt performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, in Ashland. It was there that Hurt met and became friends with Allen Nause, who later became artistic director at Portland’s Artists Repertory Theater.
That friendship helped to bring Hurt to Portland to act in four productions at Artists Repertory Theater. He appeared in “The Drawer Boy” in 2004, and returned in 2007 for “Vanya,” which was followed by “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in 2010, and “No Man’s Land” in 2011.
As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported in 2010, “Hurt’s mother was born in Harney County, near the base of Steens Mountain, and he first came to Oregon in the mid-’70s to bury her at Fort Harney.”
An Associated Press article from 2004, when Hurt was acting in “The Drawer Boy,” said that “Portland ranks among Hurt’s favorite cities. It’s a place where he can soak up art, culture and the great outdoors while maintaining a low profile, he says. He’s an avid golfer, and took up bicycling four or five years ago. Western Oregon’s rainy season doesn’t seem to bother him.”
“I don’t mind rain,” Hurt says in the article. “Seventy percent of our bodies are made of it.”
More of our coverage:
Artist Rep gets (William) Hurt again for ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’
‘No Man’s Land’ review: William Hurt shines as a shabby man in latest turn at Artists Rep
-- Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist