R.I.P. William Hurt, star of Broadcast News and Kiss Of The Spider Woman

William Hurt, the authoritative actor who won an Academy Award for Kiss Of The Spider Woman and landed nominations for Children Of A Lesser God, Broadcast News, and A History Of Violence, has died. The news comes from a statement shared by his family (via Deadline), which says simply that Hurt died “peacefully, among family, of natural causes” today. No specific cause of death has been given, but he reportedly had undergone treatment for prostate cancer in 2018. Hurt was 71.

Hurt was born in Washington, DC in 1950, and though he eventually became a memorable film actor, he began his show business career working as a theater actor in New York. He didn’t transition to Hollywood until the 1980s sci-fi movie Altered States, with his performance as the hallucinogen-obsessed Edward Jessup earning him a nomination for New Star Of The Year at the Golden Globes.

That would kick off a string of buzzy performances from Hurt, in Body Heat, The Big Chill, and the aforementioned Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Children Of A Lesser God, and Broadcast News (which got him three consecutive Oscar nominations). In the ‘90s, he starred in Michael, Dark City, A Couch In New York, and failed franchise reboot Lost In Space (a role that, at the very least, made an impression on a generation of kids who saw that very weird movie).

Hurt later appeared in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Tuck Everlasting, and The Village, and he made a return to prestige film roles with a small-but-impactful role in David Cronenberg’s A History Of Violence (getting another slew of nominations and awards in the process). He also popped up on TV shows like Damages, Humans, Goliath, and one episode of Mythic Quest.

To a specific subset of movie fans these days, he is probably best known for playing General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in The Incredible Hulk, which turned into a few glorified cameos (and a new gig, as Secretary Of State in the MCU) in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Widow. Though he still had a few projects in the works, his final project released before his death was the long-delayed fantasy film The King’s Daughter.

Here’s a slideshow of other famous people who died this year.