Happy Birthday: William Hurt

William Hurt

Born: March 20, 1950 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA

[on playing a drag queen in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)] – I didn’t play him as gay. I played him as a woman … the key for me as an artist, I was researching the character – I had a wonderful dance teacher who was helping me try to figure out how to move, because every character has different movement …. And I spent time … in gay bars and trying to soak that up too – I’m not gay myself, but many of my friends are – and I wasn’t getting it. There was something that wasn’t working. And I was walking in the street one day and I was looking at a woman who was walking ahead of us, and I said “I don’t think Molina’s gay. I think he’s a woman. I think he really is a woman, he’s just caught in a man’s body.” Like sometimes I’m an actor caught in a movie star’s body.

[on getting into his supporting role as the final-act villain in A History of Violence (2005)] – David [Cronenberg] was so kind with with me. I arrived 10 days early. I filmed only for a couple days. I’m of the belief ‘There are no small roles. Only small actors.’ … The so-called main characters? What’s that? We’re all main characters. We’re all main characters in our lives.

[accepting his Best Actor Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)] I share this with Raul (Julia).

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