Fantastic character, great actor and heartfelt friend of Ireland
The legendary Bafta-award winning actor immediately ‘got’ Ireland — and made it his home for many years,
JOHN HURT was a great actor, a memorable character – and a wonderful friend of Ireland. Like many bawdy, but sensitive English souls, he ‘got’ Ireland and at one stage, in the Who Do You Think You Are? genealogy TV series, he even seemed to have found his Irish roots, somewhat to the surprise of his many friends!
He was also a great friend of my late father, the sculptor Edward Delaney RHA, and was the last visitor my Dad re- ceived at his nursing home in Connemara before he passed away in 2009. Their friendship went way back to the late 1960s when Hurt came to Ireland to film the caper comedy, Sinful Davey, thus beginning a long and deep relationship with Ireland and its culture.
They had a mutual friend in the gaelicised aristocrat and Claddagh Records founder, Garech Browne, and his circle, with many visits to, and parties in Luggala, Browne’s stunning valley retreat in Wicklow — only last week put on the market for €4.7m.
Hurt was at home in this milieu of banter, poetry and hard living. It was wine, women and song — and many were bewitched by his distinctive husky voice. His speciality was the jabberwocky from Alice of Wonderland, which he would regale at full length to a crowded but silenced room.
It was also a voice known to millions of cinema watchers, and one of the impressive achievements of Hurt was his extraordinarily prolific acting career, across theatre and film and including unforgettable appearances in Alien, The Elephant Man and The Field, where he gave full vent to his ‘mad Irish’ streak.
He had a singular work ethic and in the morning, after an all-night party in Luggala, or elsewhere, he would almost always be gone, back on set, or stage: sober, single-minded and ready to excel again as a thorough professional and imaginative thespian.
Hurt would come and stay at my father’s house in Galway where he was lively and roisterous company.
In later years, as a young adult, I went drinking with him in Soho, in the famous Coach and Horses and the French House and ended up many hours later in Tramps nightclub, getting introduced to hedonistic celebrities and dissolute aristocrats! Another time, I met him outside Trinity College, when I was coming from chairing a student debate.
He insisted on joining us all in Renards nightclub, where he bought everyone drinks and entertained the students with saucy tales, but also — sotto voce — with romantic and even career advice!
‘‘I can’t believe we’re sitting here listening to The Elephant Man,’’ said one, and another said he feared a re-enactment of ‘that scene’ from Alien. It was a surreal and unpredictable encounter, but also a convivial and life-affirming one — and typical of the carefree Hurt, who did not stand on ceremony.
It is often said of people when they die, that they are ‘one of a kind’, but it was certainly true in John Hurt’s case.
He was a fantastic character, mimic and actor — and a heartfelt friend of Ireland.
‘Hurt was singleminded and ready to excel again as a thorough professional and imaginative thespian‘