John Hurt

John Hurt in V For Vendetta

John Hurt (1940 - 2017)

Film Deaths

• The Wild and the Willing (1962) [Phil]: Loses his footing while descending from a tower and falls to his death.

• A Man for All Seasons (1966) [Richard Rich]: Dies of an illness (off screen) in his bed. His death is mentioned in the closing narration.

• 10 Rillington Place (1971) [Timothy John Evans]: Executed by hanging, after being wrongfully convicted of Judy Geeson's murder.

• The Ghoul (1975) [Tom Rawlings]: Repeatedly stabbed to death by Don Henderson after attempting to rape Alexandra Bastedo in Peter Cushing‘s guest room. (It is unclear where Don stabbed John as he was out of frame when we see Don stabbing him.)

• East of Elephant Rock (1977) [Nash]: Killed by Judi Ann Bowker by 6 gunshot wounds to the chest.
• Watership Down (1978; animated) [Hazel]: Providing the voice of a rabbit, he dies of old age; his spirit is shown leaving his body at the end. (Thanks to ND)

• Alien (1979) [Kane]: Killed when the alien bursts out of his chest after incubating inside his body, while Sigourney Weaver, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm and Veronica Cartwright look on in shock. He is then giving a funeral and his body is ejected into space.

• The Elephant Man (1980) [John Merrick]: Suffocates in his sleep when he decides to sleep lying down like other people, and his airway closes due to the weight of his deformities.

• Heaven's Gate (Johnson County Wars) (1980) [William C. 'Billy' Irvine]: Killed during a fight with Sam Waterston's gang.

• The Plague Dogs (1982, animated) [Snitter]: Providing the voice of a dog, he and Christopher Benjamin are last seen swimming out to sea, attempting to reach a distant island to escape an armed posse of men. Their death by drowning vs. survival at the end is left ambiguous.

• The Osterman Weekend (1983) [Lawrence Fassett]: Shot to death by Rutger Hauer. (Thanks to ND)

• The Hit (1984) [Braddock]: Shot to death by police while attempting to cross the Spanish-French border, after Laura de Sol identifies him to the authorities. (Thanks to ND)

• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) [Winston Smith]: Although John is last seen alive after being tortured and brainwashed in Oceania's "Ministry of Love" by Richard Burton, it's strongly implied that he and the other prisoners (including his lover and accomplice Suzanna Hamilton) were only released and briefly kept alive to publicly confess their crimes before being executed.

• After Darkness (1985) [Peter Hunningford]: Stabbed to death by Julian Sands. (Thanks to ND)

• The Black Cauldron (1985, animated) [The Horned King]: Providing the voice of an undead being, he is destroyed by the power of the cauldron, after that supernatural forces carries him to the cauldron. (Thanks to ND)

• Jake Speed (1986) [Sid]: Fatally wounded in a gunfight with Wayne Crawford, after John sneaks onto the plane.

• Spaceballs (1987) [Kane]: Killed when an alien bursts out of his chest (then does a song-and-dance number) in a parody of his death scene from Alien. (Played for comic effect.)

• Aria (1987) [The Actor]: Dies (though I don't know the details).

• Little Sweetheart (1989) [Roger Burger]: Shot in the stomach with a shotgun by a unknown actor in station.

• Scandal (1989) [Stephen Ward]: Commits suicide by taking an overdose of pills.

• L'Œil qui ment (1992) [Anthony/Le Marquis] Dies (though I don't know the details).

• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) [The Countess]: Slapped to death by Uma Thurman's giant thumb.

• Monolith (1993) [Villano]: Killed by Bill Paxton (though I don't know the details). (Thanks to ND)

• Contact (1997) [S.R. Hadden]: Dies (off-screen) of cancer; his body is shown afterwards being covered by a sheet.

• The Climb (1998) [Chuck Langer]: Killed (though I don't know the details).

• All The Little Animals (1998) [Mr. Summers]: After being beaten by Daniel Benzali, John dies of internal bleeding while talking to Christian Bale.

• You're Dead... (1999) [Maitland]: Killed during the siege at the bank (though it's later revealed he faked his death so he could be smuggled out in a body bag and is later revived in the morgue by his daughter). (Thanks to ND)

• Lost Souls (2000) [Father Lareaux]: Dies after the evil spirit is exorcised from his body. (Thanks to ND)

• Tabloid (2001) [Vince]: Beaten to death by a unknown actor at night.

• Pride (2004) [Harry]: Pushed off of the edge by Sean Bean.

• Hellboy (2004) [Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm]: Stabbed through the neck by Ladislav Beran. His body is later seen as Ron Perlman kneels by his side. (John was wearing make-up making him look older than he actually was at the time). (Note: John reprised the role as a young version of the character in a flashback scene in Hellboy II: The Golden Army) (Thanks to Robert)

• Beyond The Gates (Shooting Dogs) (2005) [Father Christopher]: Shot repeatedly in the back and chest by a Hutu supporter (Louis Mahoney or Steve Toussaint) for being a Tutsi sympathizer as Hugh Dancy secretly looks on in shock.

• The Proposition (2005) [Jellon Lamb]: Shot in the head by Guy Pearce, to put him out of his misery after John had been shot in the stomach by Tom E. Lewis and stabbed in the chest by Danny Huston. (Thanks to ND)

• V for Vendetta (2005) [Chancellor Adam Sutler]: Shot in the head by Tim Pigott-Smith in the subway station. (Thanks to Fortza and Patrick)

• Outlander (2008) [King Hrothgar]: Slashed and mauled to death in a fight by the Moorwen's recently born offspring. He dies whilst talking to his daughter (Sophia Myles) and his body is later seen on a funeral pyre as it is set on fire to be cremated.

• 44 Inch Chest (2009) [Old Man Peanut]: In his character's epilogue (narrated in character by Hurt) it is revealed that he dies of old age in a nursing home several years after the events of the film.

• Sailcloth (2011; film short) [The Man]: Commits suicide by drowning himself in the sea.

• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) [Control]: Dies of an unspecified illness after going into retirement.

• Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) [Christopher Marlowe]: Accidentally poisoned when he drinks tainted blood; he dies as Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton and Slimane Dazi/Yasmine Hamdan sit by his bedside. (Historically, he died from being stabbed in the eye at the age of 29 on May 30th, 1593).

• Snowpiercer (2013) [Gilliam]: Executed by shooting in the head by Vlad Ivanov; this is shown on a television screen that Chris Evans is watching.

• Hercules (2014) [Lord Cotys]: Knocked off a cliff and possibly crushed when the head of a statue of Hera crashes into him after it had been pushed over by Dwayne Johnson.

• Damascus Cover (2017) [Miki]:

TV Deaths

• Gideon's Way (Gideon C.I.D.): The Tin God (1964) [Freddy Tisdale]: Shot in the back by fellow escaped prisoner Derren Nesbitt when he goes to surrender to the police. (Thanks to Brian)

• I, Claudius (1976 TV series) [Caligula]: Stabbed to death by Sam Dastor and the other conspirators.

• Spectre (1977 TV) [Mitri Cyon]: Burned to death; his form is later assumed by Asmodeus and ultimately destroyed at the end of the movie.

• King Lear (1984 TV) [Fool]: Possibly executed by hanging (off-screen) by Robert Lindsay's men. Laurence Olivier states "...and my poor fool is hanged", but he's not of sound mind, and may actually be speaking of his dead daughter Anna Calder-Marshall. We don't actually see John after the storm scene, so it's unclear whether he was in fact killed or not.

• Deadline (1988 TV) [Granville Jones]: Dies (though I don't know the details.)

• Masters of Science Fiction: The Discarded (2007) [Samswope]: Commits suicide by repeatedly bashing his head against a reinforced window. His body is later seen as the other mutants begin to remove him/it.

• Whistle and I'll Come To You (2010 TV) [James Parkin]: Killed (off-screen) by an apparation (who makes it look like he died of shock); we last see John attempting in vain to escape the room as the spirit (disguised as his wife) sits on the edge of his bed. The scene cuts to the next morning to reveal John lying dead slumped over his bed (when Gemma Jones discovers him) with his wife no longer shown at the rest home.

• Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (2013) [The War Doctor]: Dies of old age; his body then begins to regenerate into Christopher Eccleston as it cuts away (Christopher does not appear in this special as he turned down reprising his role).

Gallery

John Hurt in Alien

John Hurt's animated death scene in Watership Down

John Hurt in The Osterman Weekend

John Hurt in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

John Hurt's death in Hercules

John Hurt in The Hit

John Hurt in Whistle and I'll Come to You

John Hurt in The Elephant Man

John Hurt's animated death in The Black Cauldron

John Hurt's death in Pride