"It would be difficult to have any unfulfilled ambitions because I don't have any ambitions. I've never been that kind of performer."
"Pretending to be other people is my game and that to me is the essence of the whole business of acting."
"We are all racing towards death. No matter how many great, intellectual conclusions we draw during our lives, we know they're all only man-made, like God. I begin to wonder where it all leads. What can you do, except do what you can do as best you know how?"
"I never had any ambition to be a star, or whatever it is called, and I'm still embarrassed at the word."
"Someone once asked me, "Is there anything you regret?" and I said, "Everything!" Whatever you do, there was always a better choice."
Caligula in
I, Claudius, "Max" in
Midnight Express, John Merrick in
The Elephant Man, "Winston Smith" in
1984, Stephen Ward in
Scandal, the "War Doctor" in Dr Who; from one of the most memorable movie scenes of all time - the monster bursting from his stomach in
Alien - to
Harry Potter, from King Lear to the voice of "Hazel" in
Watership Down - he played them all.
One of his most memorable roles, of course - and one which made a significant impact on one sad, closeted little Welsh boy
[moi] back in the 1970s - was his magnificent portrayal of Quentin Crisp in
The Naked Civil Servant:
We have lost a giant of stage and screen.
RIP
Sir John Vincent Hurt, CBE (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017)
