I had just begun working at the Screen Cinema in Dublin when Love And Death On Long Island starring John Hurt opened. Now, upon the sad occasion of his passing, I’ve discovered it was one of his two favourite performances.
His second, I was delighted to read, was his role as The Bird in Jim Sheridan’s underrated adaptation of John B. Keane’s The Field. A film which holds a special place in our family, as my dad spent many months, cycling over and wandering through the damp fields and hills of Connemara as John Hurt’s stand-in.
It was the longest engagement that my dad, a movie stand-in for decades, had ever taken on, and to this day it remains his fondest - and this from a man who got kicked in the face by Sean Connery (all in the name of duty, I stress). For him, John Hurt, not James Brown, was the hardest working man in show business.
In the morning, he’d bring him some breakfast to find him sucking on a cigarette going over his lines for the day. And in the afternoon over dinner, he could be seen memorising long speeches for his upcoming role as the MP Chris Mullin in the Birmingham Six movie. Even now, at the time of his passing at the ripe old age of 77, he still has four more films awaiting release. He's in our cinemas right now, in the Oscar-nominated Jackie. And stealing the show, as ever.
For Cinephiles of my generation, the John Hurt of our formative years was the Alien chest-busting Elephant Man, or the velveteen voice of Watership Down. We would later discover another John Hurt as our tastes broadened,. Whom we would later encounter, as our tastes broadened, in A Man For All Seasons, The Hit (a personal favourite) and Michael Cimino's infamous epic Heavens Gate. He told my dad while they were busy standing around in Connemara fields, that sitting around for so many months on the Cimino film allowed him to advance from novice pool player to outright expert.
Not many actors continue to cross generations, but it is a testament to his talent that he continued to do so in multiple Harry Potter movies and as the unexpected and much-celebrated ‘War’ Doctor for Doctor Who’s fiftieth anniversary.
Some years later, Dad is walking down Grafton Street, when somebody from behind started tugging at his sleeve: “John?” “John!” The two Johns, Hurt and Markey, slipped into Bewleys for a cuppa. He said he loved Dublin, as he was able to wander around looking in shop windows, buying books without anyone bothering him. My Dad joked, that’s just because us Irish don’t want to give you a big head and make you think you’re something special!
But you WERE special, Mr. Hurt. And now you’re immortal.
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