Two departures to report, both of them Oscar nominees and enduring figures of great cinema. Major British thespian Sir John Hurt and French icon Emmanuelle Riva have died at 77 and 89 respectively...
John Hurt as "Kane" in ALIEN (1979)John Hurt first hit movie screens in the British youth drama Young and Willing (1962) when he was only 22. He never left screens thereafter, amassing over 200 film and TV credits over the next 55 years. He's in movie theaters right now, posthumously, as the priest who counsels Natalie Portman's Jackie (2016) about her grief. By the 1970s he was a headliner on TV in movies like The Naked Civil Servant (1975) and miniseries like I, Claudius (1976) and a star player you wanted in your ensemble with memorable appearances in Alien (1979), Midnight Express (1978, Oscar nomination). In one of his most recognizable roles though, he's unrecognizable The Elephant Man (1981, Oscar nomination).
As for me, I came to his career later than that, first noticing how brilliant he was in the underdiscussed British political drama Scandal (1989). Other major films included Heaven's Gate (1980), 1984 (1984), Rob Roy (1995), Love and Death on Long Island (1997), V For Vendetta (2005), two recent Tilda Swinton movies Snowpiercer and Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and three Harry Potter movies.
There's been no word on the details of his death as of yet but he's part of the cast of four new films that will premiere after his death. They include a leading role in a drama called That Good Night (2017) about a terminally ill screenwriter and a supporting role in Joe Wright's Winston Churchill drama Darkest Hour (2017) which is hoping to be an Oscar contender next winter. Did you have a favorite John Hurt role?
Emmanuelle Riva was a less familiar face to English language moviegoers, but sometimes all it takes is one or two key roles for screen immortality and with two stone cold classics of international cinema on her resume, her legend will endure. Few film debuts are as mesmerizing as hers in Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) and coupled with her Oscar-nominated role in Michael Haneke's Amour (2012) they provide masterfully elegiac bookends to her career.
Three of Riva's key roles: HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (1959), KAPO (1959), and THERESE (1962)
Inbetween those classics she made frequent appearances in French and sometimes Italian pictures. Other key pictures include Kapò (1959), Leon Morin, Priest (1961), Therese (1962, Venice Best Actress prize), and Three Colors: Bleu (1992). It's a great pity that she didn't win the Oscar for Amour but for as heartbreaking as the picture is she described herself as "completely happy" about the experience, considering the role an extraordinary gift.
She died of cancer but she had completed one new movie that has yet to premiere. No word on how she figures into the the Icelandic picture Alma (2017) from Kristín Jóhannesdóttir (As in Heaven) but she's in it.