When I was in junior high school, my mother insisted that I go with her to see A Man for all Seasons. Back then I wanted only war, adventure, or Western movies, but off we went to the Andorra in the Roxborough part of Philadelphia. For my mother, entering a city as large as that was a big deal, and I should have realized that.
The character Richard Rich form that movie looked like Ringo Starr when the Beatle grew a mustache. Maybe the movie was not that bad after all. John Hurt played that role; Rich was an ingratiating careerist who hitched his wagon to anyone who had a future.
A few years later I watched I, Claudius and was captivated by Hurt's performance as Caligula. The insane Roman emperor came across as amusing at times, and not so amusing at other times. Science fiction does not fascinate me, so i never saw him in Alien.
After that I admired his work in a variety of films: The Elephant Man, Scandal, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 1984. There were others, and he was impressive while playing a wide range of roles.
The Orwell novel has become a recent best-seller of sorts in the USA recently, and I hope to see the movie on TV again. When I see it, or anything with Hurt, I shall miss him. Not a pretty-boy actor, but an actor worth watching.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000457/
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