Veteran actor leaves rich cinematic legacy
Veteran English actor Sir John Hurt has died at 77 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
The Oscar-nominated star was well known for roles including Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant, the title role in The Elephant Man, and wand merchant Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter films.
His agent, Charles McDonald, confirmed his death yesterday.
Hurt was nominated for two Academy Awards, for The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, and won four Bafta Awards, including a lifetime achievement recognition for his outstanding contribution to British cinema in 2012.
Hurt enjoyed a big hit with sci-fi horror movie Alien in 1979, and his character’s final scene – where a baby alien bursts from his chest – has been frequently named as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.
He recently found new fans when he starred as a ‘‘forgotten’’ incarnation of the Doctor, known as the War Doctor, in Doctor Who.
He was knighted by the Queen for services to drama, at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2015.
Hurt most recently starred in the Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie.
Sometimes, you feel like your world is burning all around you. When your new president, in his first week in office, starts to make good on a campaign promise to bring back torture. When he starts the ball rolling on a US$25 billion, ineffectual border wall while slashing public funding for the arts. When he asks Congress to cut US support to the United Nations without fully understanding the world order it stands for. When you learn that he’s going to end Russian sanctions levied by his predecessor for meddling in the 2016 election (a tail wind to his ascendance). When a senior White House adviser tells the media it should ‘‘keep its mouth shut’’. And it’s only Thursday.
These are the times (often in the middle of a work day, when wine is not freely available as a coping mechanism) that I let my fingers do the walking – to NZ news online.
I read this week that Kiwis want to move summer, on the back of sub-par Christmas holiday weather. It was just what I needed. Summer. A season. You want to move it? Amazing.
I went home the night I learned of this marvellous plan and told my husband about it. ‘‘What’s next’’ he asked ‘‘cancelling night-time?!’’ He had a point. I’m not trying to be funny. And I’m not trying to minimise the fact that New Zealand, like any other nation, has real problems. But I’m telling you. There’s a reason that Kiwi news is fodder for John Oliver and his ilk. We’re bemused. We’re envious. That silly stuff makes headlines in Godzone. That it does so because there is room for it alongside the serious stuff. It’s a beautiful thing. There was the flag referendum. My personal favourite, the internationally beloved kiwi with a laser coming out of its eyes (how did that not win?!). I remember that last time I was home, a list of the top ten stories of the year included the terrible tale of a gentleman who had an eel stuck up his, well, nether regions. This week, alongside moving summer, stuff.co.nz featured tiny libraries in letterboxes and the theft of a car that had a box of ducklings in it (an ‘‘abducktion’’). I know, I know, New Zealand isn’t perfect. I lived there for a quarter of a century. And as a good friend said to my American husband who falls in love every time we come home, ‘‘Come back in the middle of June when it’s been raining for a week and you’ve got a Southern Motorway commute.’’
It’s just that sometimes, when life feels like a dumpster fire, the idea that the silly and the fun get national news coverage brings this jaded expat comfort and relief.
By the way, we arbitrarily ‘‘moved’’ our Kiwi summer holiday. We’ll be home in February. See you then. Summer. A season. You want to move it? Amazing.
New Zealand lawyer Danielle McLaughlin is based in New York and provides political commentary for Fairfax NZ, Fox News, and CNN. Follow her on Twitter: @MsDMcLaughlin