John Hurt
Hurt at the Festival de Dinard, 2009
Born	John Vincent Hurt (1940-01-22) 22 January 1940 (age 72) Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1961–present
Spouse	Annette Robertson (1962–64; divorced) Donna Peacock (1984–90; divorced) Jo Dalton (1990–96; divorced; 2 children) Ann Rees Meyers (2005–present)

John Vincent Hurt, CBE (born 22 January 1940) is an English actor. Among other honours, he has received a Golden Globe Award and four BAFTA Awards, with two and six nominations respectively, as well as two Academy Award nominations.^[1]

Hurt is known for his leading roles as Joseph Merrick (billed as John Merrick) in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, and Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York. Recognizable for his distinctive rich voice,^[2] he has also enjoyed a successful voice acting career, starring in films such as Watership Down, The Lord of the Rings and Dogville, as well as BBC television series Merlin.

Hurt initially came to prominence for his role as Richard Rich in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, and has since appeared in such popular motion pictures as: Alien, Midnight Express, Rob Roy, V for Vendetta, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the first, penultimate, and last Harry Potter films, the Hellboy film series, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Hurt is one of England's best-known, most prolific and sought-after actors, and has had a versatile film career spanning six decades.^[3] He is also known for his many Shakespearean roles.^[4] His character's final scene in Alien is consistently named as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

Early life[link]

John Hurt was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, when his father was vicar of Shirebrook.^[12] He is the son of Phyllis (née Massey), an amateur actress and engineer, and Arnould Herbert Hurt, a mathematician who became an Anglican clergyman.^[4] Hurt has an older brother, Br. Anselm (born Michael), a Roman Catholic convert, who became a monk and writer at Glenstal Abbey, to whose books his younger brother John has contributed.^[13]

Hurt also has an adopted sister, Monica. His father was a vicar at St John in Sunderland, but in 1937 he moved his family to Derbyshire, where he became Perpetual Curate of Holy Trinity church. When John was five, his father became the vicar of St Stephens Church at Woodville, South Derbyshire and remained there until 1952. In 1945, John's father founded 1st Woodville (St Stephens) Scout Group which is still going strong today.^{[citation needed]}

Hurt had a strict upbringing: the family lived opposite a cinema but he was not allowed to visit. He was also not permitted to mix with local children because in his parents' view they were "too common".^[14] Hurt's mother died in 1975, and his father died in 1999 at the age of 95.

Education[link]

At the age of eight he was sent to the Anglican St Michael's Preparatory School in Otford, Kent, where he eventually developed his passion for acting. He decided he wanted to become an actor, and his first role was that of a girl in a school production The Bluebird (L'Oiseau Bleu) by Maurice Maeterlinck. While he was a pupil at the school he was abused by Donald Cormack (now deceased), then Senior Master of the school and later Head Teacher (until his retirement in 1981).^[15] Hurt described how Cormack would remove his two false front teeth and put his tongue in the boys' mouths, and how he would rub their faces with his stubble. Hurt said that the experience affected him "hugely".^[16]

His father moved to St Aidan's Church in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. Hurt (then aged 12) became a boarder at Christ's Hospital School (then a grammar school) in Lincoln, because he had failed the entrance exam for admission to his brother's school. Hurt often accompanied his mother to Cleethorpes Repertory Theatre, but his parents disliked his acting ambitions and encouraged him to become an art teacher instead. His headmaster, Mr Franklin, laughed when Hurt told him he wanted to be an actor, saying "you wouldn't stand a chance in the profession."^[14]

Aged 17, Hurt enrolled in Grimsby Art School (now the East Coast School of Art & Design), where he studied art. In 1959 Hurt won a scholarship allowing him to study for an Art Teachers Diploma (ATD) at Central St. Martins College in Holborn, London. Despite the scholarship, paying for his studies was financially difficult and so he persuaded some of his friends to pose nude and sold the portraits. In 1960 he won a scholarship to RADA where he trained for two years. He was then cast in small roles on TV.^{[citation needed]}.

Career [link]

Hurt's first film was The Wild and the Willing (1962), but his first major role was as Richard Rich in A Man for All Seasons (1966). His portrayal of Quentin Crisp in the 1975 TV play The Naked Civil Servant gave prominence and earned him the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. The following year, Hurt played the Roman emperor Caligula in the BBC drama serial, I, Claudius. In 1978, he appeared in Midnight Express, for which he won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (the latter of which he lost to Christopher Walken for his performance in The Deer Hunter). Hurt played Hazel, the heroic rabbit leader of his warren in the film adaptation of Watership Down and later played the major villain, General Woundwort, in the animated television series version.

His roles at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s included Kane, the memorable first victim of the title creature in the film Alien (a role which he reprised as a parody in Spaceballs); would-be art school radical Scrawdyke in Little Malcolm; and "John" Merrick in the Joseph Merrick biography The Elephant Man, for which he won a BAFTA and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actor. He also had a starring role in Sam Peckinpah's critically panned but moderately successful final film, The Osterman Weekend (1983). Also in 1983 he starred as the Fool opposite Laurence Olivier's King in King Lear. Hurt also appeared as Raskolnikov in the BBC series Crime and Punishment in 1980.

Cynthia Nixon, Hurt and Swoosie Kurtz in 2009.

Hurt has taken roles in famous political allegories, first playing the hero in an early production and then the tyrannical villain in a later work. For instance, he played Winston Smith in the 1984 adaptation of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and then assumed the role of Adam Sutler (a Big Brother-esque leader of a fascist Great Britain) in the 2006 film V for Vendetta, a film that drew many parallels to the world of Orwell's 1984.

In 1985, Hurt starred in Disney's The Black Cauldron, voicing the film's main antagonist, the Horned King. In 1986, Hurt provided the voiceover for AIDS: Iceberg / Tombstone, a public information film warning of the dangers of AIDS. In 1988 He voiced the main role in The StoryTeller, a professional capturer of imagination. He had a memorable supporting role as "Bird" O'Donnell in Jim Sheridan's 1990 film The Field, which garnered him another BAFTA nomination. In 2001, he played Mr. Ollivander, the wand-maker, in the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He returned for the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though his scenes in that film were cut. He also returned for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2. In 1999, Hurt provided narration on the British musical group Art of Noise's concept album The Seduction of Claude Debussy. He was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in June 2004. During this time, he narrated a four part series on the Universe which was released on DVD in 1999. In May 2008, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as Harold Oxley.^[17] He is also the voice of The Great Dragon Kilgharrah, who aids the young warlock Merlin as he protects the future king Arthur, in the BBC television series Merlin.^[18]

In 2008, 33 years after The Naked Civil Servant, Hurt reprised the role of Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York. This film depicts Crisp's later years in New York.^[19]

In June 2009, Hurt played the on-screen Big Brother for Paper Zoo Theatre Company's production of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The theatre production premiered at the National Media Museum, in Bradford and will be touring during early 2010. Hurt said, "I think Paper Zoo thought it would be quite ironic to have the person who played Winston having risen in the party. From the Chestnut Tree Cafe, he's managed to get his wits together again, now understanding that 2 and 2 make 5, and becomes Big Brother. So it tickled my fancy, and of course I looked up Paper Zoo, and they seem to me to be the sort of company that’s essential in the country as we know it, and doing a lot of really good stuff."^[20]

Hurt is due to appear alongside Ben Kingsley in a new feature entitle Broken Dream which will be directed by Neil Jordan in 2011.^[21] At the 65th British Academy Film Awards Hurt won the award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.

Personal life[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2012)

In 1962, Hurt's father left his parish in Cleethorpes to become headmaster of St Michael's College in the Central American country of Belize. In that same year, John Hurt first performed on the London stage and married actress Annette Robertson. The marriage ended in 1964. In 1967 he began his longest relationship, with French model Marie-Lise Volpeliere-Pierrot, sister of fashion photographer Jean-Claude Volpeliere-Pierrot. The couple had planned to get married after fifteen years, when events took a tragic turn on 26 January 1983: Hurt and Volpeliere-Pierrot went horse riding early in the morning near their house in Ascott-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire. Volpeliere-Pierrot was thrown off her horse and suffered a tragic fall. She went into a coma and died later that day.^{[citation needed]}

Hurt married Texan actress and old friend Donna Peacock at a local Registrar's office on 6 September 1984. The couple moved to Kenya. They divorced in early January 1990.

at the 2009 premiere of An Englishman in New York.

On 24 January 1990, Hurt married American production assistant Jo Dalton whom he had met while filming Scandal. With her he had two sons: Sasha John Vincent Hurt (born 6 February 1990) and Nick Hurt (born 5 February 1993), who are currently residing in County Waterford, Ireland. Nick has gone to acting school in England and wishes to follow in his father's footsteps. This marriage ended in 1996 and was followed with a seven year relationship with Dublin born presenter and writer Sarah Owens. The couple moved to County Wicklow where they settled close to their friends, director John Boorman and Claddagh Records founder and Guinness heir The Hon Garech de Brun. In July 2002 the couple separated. In March 2005, Hurt married his fourth wife, advertising film producer Anwen Rees Meyers.

In January 2002, Hurt received an honorary degree from the University of Derby and in January 2006 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Hull.

In 2007, Hurt took part in the BBC genealogical television series Who Do You Think You Are?, which investigated part of his family history. Prior to participating in the programme, Hurt had harboured a love of Ireland and was enamoured of a 'deeply beguiling' family legend that suggested his great-grandmother had been the illegitimate daughter of Irish nobleman, the Marquess of Sligo. The genealogical evidence uncovered seemed to contradict the family legend, rendering the 'suggestion' doubtful. Coincidentally, the search revealed that his great-grandmother had previously lived in Grimsby at a location within a mile of the art college at which Hurt had once enrolled.^[22]

Since 2006, John Hurt has been a patron of Project Harar, a UK-based charity working in Ethiopia for children with facial disfigurements.^[23]

Since 2009, he has been patron of QUAD. On 25 September 2009 Hurt visited QUAD and took part in a Q&A directly preceding a screening of the film The Night Train as part of the festivities, celebrating the first birthday at QUAD (opened on 26 September 2008). The day after, 26 September, John Hurt was guest of honour at Derby County vs Bristol City and went on the pitch at Pride Park Stadium at half time to oversee a prize draw.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography [link]

Films [link]

Television [link]

Video games [link]

• Privateer 2: The Darkening (1996) – Joe the Bartender
• Tender Loving Care (1998) – Dr. Turner
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest (2009) - Narrator

Other projects, contributions [link]

• When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics) – "Sonnet 145"
  ("Those lips that Love's own hand did make")
• Hurt performs in drag for the promotional video for Attitude by the music group Suede.
• Hurt is seen as the 'Brian Epstein' esque mogul in Paul McCartney's 1982 video for the song 'Take It Away'. McCartney explains in the video commentary section of The McCartney Years DVD (for the song 'Take it Away') that Hurt himself was a friend of The Beatles and Brian Epstein, and that The Beatles had watched Hurt act in the mid-60's and thought him a fine actor.
• Hurt is the narrator on the album The Seduction of Claude Debussy by the band Art of Noise (1999).
• John Hurt is the narrator of the 4 part series released in 1999 on The Universe for Channel 4 International, available on DVD.
• Hurt co-starred along side Kiefer Sutherland in the 10 part web series The Confession.

References [link]

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Hurt

• John Hurt at the Internet Movie Database
• John Hurt at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Actor's Compendium
• Biography on BBC site
• Receiving his honorary degree from Hull University in January 2006
• March 2006 Observer article
• Project Harar
• John Hurt lights a candle for Rwanda
• John Hurt narrates Human Planet 2011

Mississippi John Hurt
Hurt making a recording for the Library of Congress in 1964.
Background information
Birth name	John Smith Hurt
Born	(1893-07-03)July 3, 1893 or (1892-03-08)March 8, 1892 Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi, United States
Origin	Avalon, Mississippi
Died	November 2, 1966(1966-11-02) Grenada, Mississippi
Genres	Country blues, Delta blues, Folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Sharecropper, Farm hand
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	1928, 1963 – 1966
Labels	Okeh Vanguard
Associated acts	Shell Smith Willie Narmour
Notable instruments
Guild F-30NT

John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt (July 3, 1893^[1][2] or March 8, 1892^[3] — November 2, 1966) was an American country blues singer and guitarist.^[4]

Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine. Singing in a loud whisper, to a melodious finger-picked accompaniment,^[5] he began to play local dances and parties while working as a sharecropper. He first recorded for Okeh Records in 1928, but these were commercial failures, and Hurt drifted out of the recording scene, where he continued his work as a farmer. After a man discovered a copy of one of his recordings, "Avalon Blues", which gave the location of his hometown, there became increased interest in his whereabouts. Tom Hoskins, a blues enthusiast, would be the first to locate Hurt in 1963. He convinced Hurt to relocate to Washington, D.C., where he was recorded by the Library of Congress in 1964. This rediscovery helped further the American folk music revival, which had led to the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurt's era. Hurt entered the same university and coffeehouse concert circuit as his contemporaries, as well as other Delta blues musicians brought out of retirement. As well as playing concerts, he recorded several studio albums for Vanguard Records.

He died in Grenada, Mississippi. Material recorded by Hurt has been re-released by many record labels over the years (see discography); and his influence has extended over many generations of guitarists. Songs recorded by Hurt have been covered by Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Beck, Doc Watson, John McCutcheon, Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn, David Johansen, Bill Morrissey and Guthrie Thomas.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Born John Smith Hurt in Teoc,^[6] Carroll County, Mississippi and raised in Avalon, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar at age nine. He was completely self-taught, playing his mother's boyfriend's guitar whenever he stayed over at her house. His style was not reminiscent of any other style being played at the time; it was the way Hurt "thought the guitar should sound". He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances, earning a living as a farmhand into the 1920s.^[7] His fast, highly syncopated style of playing made his music adept for dancing. On occasion, a medicine show would come through the area; Hurt recalls being wanted by one of them. "One of them wanted me, but I said no because I just never wanted to get away from home."^[6] In 1923 he partnered with the fiddle player Willie Narmour as a substitute for his regular partner Shell Smith.^[7]

First recordings[link]

When Narmour got a chance to record for Okeh Records as a prize for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, he recommended Hurt to Okeh Records producer Tommy Rockwell. After auditioning "Monday Morning Blues" at his home, he took part in two recording sessions, in Memphis and New York City (see Discography below).^[7] While in Memphis, Hurt recalled seeing "many, many blues singers ... Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, and lots, lots more."^[6] Hurt described his first recording session as such:

... a great big hall with only the three of us in it: me, the man [Rockwell], and the engineer. It was really something. I sat on a chair, and they pushed the microphone right up to my mouth and told me that I couldn't move after they had found the right position. I had to keep my head absolutely still. Oh, I was nervous, and my neck was sore for days after.^[6]

Hurt attempted further negotiations with OKeh to record again, but after the commercial failure of the resulting records, and Okeh Records going out of business during the Great Depression, Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity, working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances.^[5]

Rediscovery[link]

After Hurt's renditions of "Frankie" and "Spike Driver Blues" were included in The Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952, and an Australian man discovered a copy of "Avalon Blues", there became increased interest in finding Hurt himself.^[8] In 1963, a folk musicologist, Tom Hoskins, supervised by Richard Spottswood, was able to locate Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi using the lyrics of "Avalon Blues":^[8]

Avalon, my home town, always on my mind/Avalon, my home town.

While in Avalon, Hoskins convinced an apprehensive Hurt to perform several songs for him, to ensure that he was genuine.^[8] Hoskins was convinced, and seeing that Hurt's guitar playing skills were still intact, Hoskins encouraged him to move to Washington, D.C., and begin performing on a wider stage. His performance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise amongst the new folk revival audience.^[5] Before his death he played extensively in colleges, concert halls, coffee houses and also on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as well as recording three further albums for Vanguard Records.^[5] Much of his repertoire was recorded for the Library of Congress, also. His fans particularly liked the ragtime songs "Salty Dog" and "Candy Man", and the blues ballads "Spike Driver Blues" (a variant of "John Henry") and "Frankie".^[5]

Hurt's influence spanned several music genres including blues, country, bluegrass, folk and contemporary rock and roll. A soft-spoken man, his nature was reflected in the work, which consisted of a mellow mix of country, blues and old time music.^[7]

Hurt died of a heart attack in Grenada, Mississippi.^[9]

Style[link]

Hurt incorporated a fast, pick-less, syncopated fingerpicking style that he taught himself. He was influenced by very few people; but does recall an elderly, unrecorded, blues singer from that area, Rufus Hanks, who played twelve-string guitar and harmonica.^[6] He also recalls listening to the country singer Jimmie Rodgers. Many of his songs were in very basic keys (C, G, D, F, etc.), his fingers picking notes within the chords. On occasion, Hurt would use an open tuning and a slide, as he did in his arrangement of "The Ballad of Casey Jones".^[8][6]

Tributes[link]

There is now a memorial in Avalon, Mississippi for Mississippi John Hurt. It is parallel to RR2, the rural road on which he grew up.

American singer-songwriter Tom Paxton, who met Hurt and played on the same bill as him at the Gaslight in Greenwich Village around 1963, wrote and recorded a song about him in 1977 entitled "Did You Hear John Hurt?" Paxton still frequently plays this song at his live performances.

The first track of John Fahey's 1968 solo acoustic guitar album Requia is entitled "Requiem For John Hurt". Fahey's posthumous live album The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick also features a version of the piece, there entitled "Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt".

British folk/blues artist Wizz Jones recorded a tribute song called "Mississippi John" for his 1977 album Magical Flight.

Discography[link]

NOTE: Sources for this section are as follows:^{[10][11][12][13]}

78 rpm releases[link]

• "Frankie"/"Nobody's Dirty Business" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8560) (1928)
• "Stack O' Lee"/"Candy Man Blues" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8654) (1928)
• "Blessed Be the Name"/"Praying on the Old Camp Ground" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8666) (1928)
• "Blue Harvest Blues"/"Spike Driver Blues" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8692) (1928)
• "Louis Collins"/"Got the Blues (Can't Be Satisfied)" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8724) (1928)
• "Ain't No Tellin'"/"Avalon Blues" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8759) (1928)

Albums[link]

• Folk Songs and Blues [live recordings] (Piedmont Records, PLP 13757) (1963)
• Worried Blues (Piedmont Records, PLP 13161) (1964)
• Today! (Vanguard Records, VSD-79220) (1966)
• The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt (Vanguard Records, VSD-79248) (1967)
• The Best of Mississippi John Hurt [live recordings] (Vanguard Records, VSD-19/20) (1970)
• Last Sessions (Vanguard Records, VSD-79327) (1972)
• Volume One of a Legacy [live recordings] (Piedmont Records, CLPS 1068) (1975)
• Monday Morning Blues: The Library of Congress Recordings – Volume One (Flyright Records, FLYLP 553) (1980)
• Avalon Blues: The Library of Congress Recordings – Volume Two (Heritage Records, HT-301) (1982)
• Satisfied [live recordings] (Quicksilver Intermedia, QS 5007) (1982)
• The Candy Man [live recordings] (Quicksilver Intermedia, QS 5042) (1982)
• Sacred and Secular: The Library of Congress Recordings – Volume Three (Heritage Records, HT-320) (1988)
• Avalon Blues (Flyright Records, FLYCD 06) (1989)
• Memorial Anthology [live recordings] (Genes Records, GCD 9906/7) (1993)

Selected compilation albums[link]

• The Original 1928 Recordings (Spokane Records, SPL 1001) (1971)
• 1928: Stack O' Lee Blues – His First Recordings (Biograph Records, BLP C4) (1972)
• 1928 Sessions (Yazoo Records, L 1065) (1979)
• Satisfying Blues (Collectables Records, VCL 5529) (1995)
• Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings (Columbia Records, CK64986) (1996)
• Rediscovered (Vanguard Records, CD 79519) (1998)
• The Complete Recordings (Vanguard Records, CD 70181-2) (1998)
• Candy Man Blues: The Complete 1928 Sessions (Snapper Music, SBLUECD 010) (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mississippi John Hurt

• Mississippi John Hurt Museum Includes a link to a discussion forum regarding Mississippi John Hurt with substantive participation by grand nephew, Fred Bolden.
• Mississippi John Hurt News Website run by Hurt's grand nephew, Fred Bolden. Has several forums and discussions open to the public.
• Illustrated Mississippi John Hurt discography
• Available recordings at The Internet Archive
• Allmusic
• Mississippi John Hurt's Stackolee Recording, sheet music and guitar tab.

Further reading[link]

• Ratcliffe, Philip R., (2011) Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.

Louis Loren Collins (October 6, 1882 – June 24, 1950) was the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. Born in St. Cloud, Minnesota and became Lieutenant Governor under Governor J. A. O. Preus from January 4, 1921 – January 6, 1925. He died in 1950 in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

References[link]

• Minnesota Historical Society

v t e Lieutenant Governors of Minnesota Holcombe Donnelly Swift Sherwood Armstrong Yale Barto Wakefield Gilman Rice Ives Clough Day Gibbs L. Smith Jones Eberhart E. Smith Gordon Burnquist Sullivan Frankson Collins Nolan Adams Arens Solberg Petersen Richardson (acting) Lindsten Anderson Thye Miller Anderson Nelsen Wright Rolvaag Keith Goetz Perpich Olson Wangberg Johnson Dyrstad Benson Schunk Molnau Solon