Actor William Hurt dead at 71

The American actor William Hurt, famous for his roles in films such as The Big Chill (1983) and Children of a Lesser God (1986) died yesterday Sunday at the age of 71.

The talented actor won the Academy Award for Best Actor for "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985), where he played an effeminate homosexual jailed in a Brazilian prison for raping an underage boy. 

But one of his most unforgettable characters was that of Tom Grunick in Broadcast News (1987), where he played a news anchorman alongside Holly Hunter.  The film represented the dumbing-down of broadcast journalism and was said to have predicted journalism as we know it today.

"The Hurt family is deeply saddened by the death of William Hurt, a beloved father and Oscar-winning actor, on March 13, 2022, a week before his 72nd birthday," Will's son was quoted as saying in the media. "He died peacefully, surrounded by his family, from natural causes".

In May 2018, he was diagnosed with end-stage prostate cancer, however, his son did not specify whether this was the cause of his death.

[With information from CNA]