John Hurt
John Hurt
Sir John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor whose career has spanned six decades. He initially came to prominence for his supporting role as Richard Rich in the film A Man for All Seasons. Since then he has played leading roles as Quentin Crisp in the film The Naked Civil Servant, John Merrick in David Lynch's biopic The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in the dystopian drama Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in the Stephen Frears drama The Hit, and Stephen...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionActor
Date of Birth22 January 1940
arrogant
We're all far too afraid of being so arrogant to say "Either you can or you can't."
forgotten enough said
As Beckett said, it's not enough to die, one has to be forgotten as well.
party cowboy acting
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.
independent should-have matter
I've spent a great deal of my life doing independent film, and that is partly because the subject matter interests me and partly because that is the basis of the film industry. That's where the filmmakers come from, it's where they start and sometimes its where they should have stayed.
believe thinking intuition
I think, you have to forget about intellect, to a degree. Intuition is very important when you're working with a lens, I believe, for what the lens is doing, too.
sorry wine mind
I put everything I can into the mulberry of my mind and hope that it is going to ferment and make a decent wine. How that process happens, I'm sorry to tell you I can't describe.
mother father thinking
My mother's father drank and her mother was an unhappy, neurotic woman, and I think she has lived all her life afraid of anyone who drinks for fear something like that might happen to her.
insecure thinking parent
My parents felt that acting was far too insecure. Don't ask me what made them think that painting would be more secure.
relief feels tested
It's a great relief to feel that you're working with someone rather than for someone. You don't feel that you're being tested, as it were.
ambition would-be kind
It would be difficult to have any unfulfilled ambitions because I don't have any ambitions. I've never been that kind of performer.
change years interviews
If you do an interview in 1960, something it's bound to change by the year 2000. And if it doesn't, then there's something drastically wrong.
perspective each-day progression
Each day, as you get older, there is a new perspective on life. It's a progression of some sort.
two directors reason
Very broadly speaking, you can put directors into two areas: One for whom you work, and the other with whom you work. And I prefer the latter, for obvious reasons.
moving careers may
It's quite a dangerous career move to go wilfully on making films that may not find a distributor.