Hurt plays the crew member who investigates the derelict ship in Alien. The sequence that follows is among the most discussed in cinema, and it works because he plays the preceding scenes as ordinary working life, so the interruption arrives without any tonal preparation whatsoever.
He trained at a London drama school and built a long career across stage, television and film, frequently in roles requiring physical transformation or extensive prosthetics that hid him almost completely. He was equally at home in British social realism, historical drama and genre, and he worked continuously until shortly before his death.
Recurring subjects: suffering played without appeal for sympathy, men isolated by circumstance, and dignity maintained under physical horror. His voice, distinctive and slightly frayed, became one of the most recognisable in British cinema and was used extensively in narration and animation late in his career.
He drew Academy Award nominations for very different roles, one historical and one contemporary, and he appeared in an extraordinary number of significant films across five decades. His science fiction scene is a permanent reference point, parodied and homaged so often that its original effect is easy to underestimate.
For viewers who want to see a character actor with genuine range. Suited to anyone approaching the science fiction horror classic, and to those interested in British cinema of the nineteen seventies and eighties.
