I’m not afraid of dying says cancer-battler John Hurt
HE has conducted his fight against pancreatic cancer with quiet dignity.
And yesterday, with a characteristic lack of self-pity, John Hurt revealed that death holds no fear for him.
The 75-year-old admitted he has contemplated dying – but said he will not allow himself to wallow.
As one of Britain’s best-loved character actors, the star of the Harry Potter films received an outpouring of sympathy when he revealed his diagnosis in June.
He recently started a course of chemotherapy and says his treatment is ‘going terrifically well’.
Sir John, who was knighted by the Queen last month in recognition of his acting career, said: ‘I can’t say I worry about mortality, but it’s impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it. We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly.’
The film and stage star – who starred as Ollivander the wandmaker in the Harry Potter series, took the title role in The Elephant Man and played Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant – told Radio Times he was surprised to receive his gong.
He added: ‘ I did nothing to encourage it. Some people do, you know. I like being Sir John – it works, doesn’t it? Or John.
‘The only thing that sticks in my craw is when people say “Mr Hurt”. I tell them it’s no longer correct.’
Despite his illness, he continues to work, and this Saturday he stars in the Radio 4 play Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell, playing the alcoholic writer of the Spectator magazine’s Low Life column in the late Seventies.
Referring to Bernard’s hell-raising life, he lamented the rise of political correctness, adding: ‘Jeffrey made a life choice and was very much a character of his period. Now it would not be acceptable.
‘No one drinks so much. People don’t give in to temptation and everything is controlled.’ He also criticised what he sees as a lack of adventure, an over-reliance on market research, bureaucracy – and his surprise that actors need publicists to sanitise their image.
He said: ‘Society is much more homogenised, and we’re all sup- posed to conform. People are censorious but the pendulum will swing back, as it always does.
‘There were difficulties in those days, but life was more fun. We’ve become obsessed with the dangers of alcohol. There’s political correctness as well. Who says what is politically correct? And as for the way you have to treat women …’
He said women were more likely to claim they were being harassed if a man made a pass at them, adding: ‘I don’t know how you ever make a date. On the internet? Oh my God, I’d be sunk. As Oscar Wilde said, “The only thing to do with temptation is give in to it”. I’ve been known to do that, and at times I drank too much.’
The star, who is married to fourth wife Anwen Rees-Myers, 59, added: ‘I’ve had a lively life – that’s a very good way of putting it.’
‘I’ve had a lively life’