# the Sir John Hurt appreciation thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352 "2014-12-28T13:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/21 "2014-12-29T07:10:55Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Obviously, it was his turn as the War Doctor that pushed Her Maj over the edge on this decision… That kinda soured me on the Doctor as a series. I posted something about it here somewhere, But it just exposed the weakness; Hurt is a God. Tennant is awesome. Smith and Piper and the rest were just pissing themselves in front of a camera in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/22 "2014-12-29T15:42:24Z")
Most of the ro9les I recall him for have been mentioned. I first saw him a Richard Rich in _A Man for All Seasons_. Loved him in that. I loved him as Winston Smith in **1984**. He contrived to actually look like Eric Blair (George Orwell) in that movie (which was filmed in London, and mostly not on sets, during the actual timespan the novel was supposed to take place during) Of course, in **Alien** and the parody of it in **Spaceballs**. As a very different Caligula (in **I, Claudius** )from the one Malcolm MacDowell later played. Joseph Merrick (to give the character his real-life name) in **The Elephant Man** …and in a great many roles since. The War Doctor, The Immortals, Hellboy, V for Vendetta, Indy 4, the guy in Frankenstein Unbound, and others too many to mention. He was the voice of Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi’s animated _Lord of the Rings_ and the voice of the Horned King in _The Black Cauldron_ and General Woundwort in the TV series (though not the movie) _Watership Down_, and did other voices, too. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/23 "2014-12-29T16:21:15Z")
If you haven’t seen it, check out Hurt in [The Shout](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078259/)…an odd, atmospheric tale of of a sinister wanderer and the couple he victimizes. John Hurt trivia: He was one of John Entwistle’s best friends. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/24 "2014-12-29T16:27:31Z")
He’s been around for so long- and still at it- that it seems he should be a lot older than 74, doesn’t it? Huge fan of him in several films from _Man For All Seasons_ on, but since they haven’t been mentioned I’ll go with Ellie Arroway’s patron S. R. Hadden in _Contact_ (“Wanna take a ride?”), and another vote for his second outing as Dame Quentin in _Englishman in New York_. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/25 "2014-12-29T19:58:01Z")
I worked in a movie theater in the 80s and still remember him, quite horribly, in Partners [:eek:](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084477/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_144). ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/26 "2014-12-29T20:19:53Z")
He was the hardened killer Braddock in [The Hit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hit_(1984_film)), with Terence Stamp and a very very young Tim Roth. Terrific film, and each gave their best. ---
**Author:** ![Idilia\_Dubb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@Idilia\_Dubb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idilia_Dubb)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/27 "2014-12-29T20:50:05Z")
For everybody who mentioned JH in _Alien_, check out this very interesting ccount of how they filmed the chestburster scene: [http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/13/making-of-alien-chestburster:eek:](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/13/making-of-alien-chestburster:eek:) Anybody remember JH in _Midnight Express_? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/28 "2014-12-30T03:13:53Z")
I liked him in Robroy. He gave a minor character some real depth. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/29 "2014-12-31T22:52:29Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > He’s been around for so long- and still at it- that it seems he should be a lot older than 74, doesn’t it? When I saw him in _1984_, I was amazed, even then, that he was still alive. I remembered him in Midnight Express; it seemed to me that his role could have been played by anybody, and I wondered why he was so marginalized in it. I guess he was at a slump in his career… I first saw him in A Man For All Seasons, and thought that he was great. He’ll always be that fucker, Richard Rich, to me. I’m glad that he’s not dead; when I saw the title, I was worried. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352/30 "2015-01-01T05:02:38Z")
Ollivander in Harry Potter could have been silly fun, he could be the only adult that didn’t chew the scenery. I think of him as the dictator Prime Minister in V for Vandetta. Didn’t know he was the elephant man. Have to see that again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sir-john-hurt-appreciation-thread/708352.md?page=1)