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John Hurt, Star Of "1984," "The Naked Civil Servant," Dies At 77

"We're all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly."

Acclaimed English actor Sir John Hurt passed away on Wednesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Hurt, who appeared in The Elephant Man, Midnight Express, 1984, Alien and V for Vendetta was 77.

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ROME, ITALY - NOVEMBER 08: Actor John Hurt and his wife Ann Rees Meyers attend the Opening Ceremony Inside during The 8th Rome Film Festival on November 8, 2013 (Photo by Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images)

"John was the most sublime of actors and the most gentlemanly of gentlemen with the greatest of hearts and the most generosity of spirit," said his widow, Anwen Hurt.

"He touched all our lives with joy and magic, and it will be a strange world without him."

Hurt was a veteran actor whose ability to melt into his performances made it almost impossible to categorize him. One of his most notable roles was real-life gay aesthete Quentin Crisp, whom he played in both The Naked Civil Servant (1975) and An Englishman in New York (2009).

"I was advised by many people not to do it," he told Gay Times. "They said 'you’ll never work again if you do that.' At that time it was really [controversial]. But it had exactly the reverse effect"

"Nobody could have been sure that it was really going to do what we hoped it would do. But it did infinitely more, right across society. It had an extraordinary effect. I’m still stopped today by people whose life was changed by it."

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LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 13: (EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION IN UK TABLOID NEWSPAPERS UNTIL 48 HOURS AFTER CREATE DATE AND TIME. MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTO BY DAVE M. BENETT/GETTY IMAGES REQUIRED) (L to R) Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch and John Hurt arrive at the UK Premiere of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" at BFI Southbank on September 13, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)

More recently Hurt appeared in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Pablo Larraín's Jackie and several episodes of Doctor Who as "the War Doctor." Younger audiences knew him as wand merchant Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter films.

"I can't say I worry about mortality, but it's impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it," he told Radio Times in 2015. "We're all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly."

In addition to his widow, Hurt is survived by his sons, Alexander and Nick, from his marriage to Jo Dalton.

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