Sir John widow says world is now ‘strange’
husband, John Vincent Hurt, died on Wednesday January 25, 2017, at home in Norfolk.
“John was the most sublime of actors and the most gentlemanly of gentlemen with the greatest of hearts and the most generosity of spirit.
“He touched all our lives with joy and it will be a strange world without him.”
It comes as a number of films, which Sir John has recently filmed, are due to be released.
One sees the actor star as Ralph, a successful screenwriter who is facing terminal illness in That Good Night.
He had completed filming for the role, described as “poignant” by producers, months before his death as he continued to work at a prodigious rate.
As well as working on That Good Night, Sir John can also be seen in the Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, thriller Damascus Cover and the upcoming biopic of boxer Lenny McLean, My Name Is Lenny.
He was also filming Darkest Hour, in which he starred as Neville Chamberlain opposite Gary Oldman’s Winston Churchill. A spokesman for the producers of That Good Night expressed their “sincere condolences”.
They added: “John delivers a masterful and touching performance of this flawed character as he attempts to be reconciled with his son and, secretly, to ensure he is not a burden to his wife as he goes ‘into that good night’.
“We watched John in awe during filming and feel privileged to have had this opportunity to work with him.”
They said his role in the film “was extremely poignant but one that he was very proud of and had been keen to take on and complete, despite his own personal battles with illness”.
Sir John was nominated for two Academy Awards, for The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, and won four Baftas, including a lifetime achievement award.