JOHN VINCENT HURT, THE GREAT BRITISH CULTURAL ICON

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. The best way to stay safe in front of the pandemic is staying at home and The Grandma has decided to watch some films.

She has chosen a marathon of Harry Potter's films, and she has paid a lot of attention about the character of Garrick Ollivander, the British half-blood wizard who was the proprietor of Ollivanders in Diagon Alley during most of the 20th century played by John Hurt, the amazing actor who was born on a day like today in 1940).

John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940-25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned more than 50 years.

Hurt came to prominence for his role as Richard Rich in the film A Man for All Seasons (1966) and gained BAFTA Award nominations for his portrayals of Timothy Evans in 10 Rillington Place (1971) and Quentin Crisp in television film The Naked Civil Servant (1975) -winning his first BAFTA for the latter. He played Caligula in the BBC TV series I, Claudius (1976).

Hurt's performance in the prison drama Midnight Express (1978) brought him international renown and earned Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards, along with an Academy Award nomination. His BAFTA-nominated portrayal of astronaut Kane, in the science-fiction horror film Alien (1979), yielded a scene where an alien creature burst out of his chest. It has been named by several publications as one of the most memorable moments in cinema history.

More information: Short List

Hurt earned his third competitive BAFTA, along with his second Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, as John Merrick in David Lynch's biopic The Elephant Man (1980). Other significant roles during the 1980s included Bob Champion in biopic Champions (1984), Mr. Braddock in the Stephen Frears drama The Hit (1984), Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) and Stephen Ward in the drama depicting the Profumo affair, Scandal (1989).

Hurt was again BAFTA-nominated for his work in Irish drama The Field (1990) and played the primary villain, James Graham, in the epic adventure Rob Roy (1995).

His later films include the Harry Potter film series (2001–11), the Hellboy films (2004 and 2008), supernatural thriller The Skeleton Key (2005), western The Proposition (2005), political thriller V for Vendetta (2005), sci-fi adventure Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and the Cold War espionage film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).

Hurt reprised his role as Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York (2009), which brought his seventh BAFTA nomination. He portrayed the War Doctor in the BBC TV series Doctor Who in 2013.

Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors; director David Lynch described him as simply the greatest actor in the world. He possessed what was described as the most distinctive voice in Britain, likened by The Observer to nicotine sieved through dirty, moonlit gravel.

 

His voice acting career encompassed films such as Watership Down (1978), The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Plague Dogs (1982), The Black Cauldron (1985) and Dogville (2003), as well as BBC TV series Merlin (2008–2012).

In 2012, he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement BAFTA Award, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cinema. He was knighted in 2015 for his services to drama.

Hurt was born John Vincent Hurt on 22 January 1940 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the son of Phyllis, an engineer and one-time actress, and Arnold Herbert Hurt, a mathematician who became a Church of England clergyman and served as vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. His father was also vicar of St John's parish in Sunderland, County Durham.

Hurt's first film was The Wild and the Willing (1962), but his first major role was as Richard Rich in A Man for All Seasons (1966). He played Timothy Evans, who was hanged for murders committed by his landlord John Christie, in 10 Rillington Place (1971), earning him his first BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His portrayal of Quentin Crisp in the TV play The Naked Civil Servant (1975) gave him prominence and earned him the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.

More information: Slant Magazine

The following year, Hurt won further acclaim for his bravura performance as the Roman emperor Caligula in the BBC drama serial I, Claudius.

Hurt appeared in the 1978 film Midnight Express, for which he won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the latter of which he lost to Christopher Walken for his performance in The Deer Hunter. Around the same time, he lent his voice to Ralph Bakshi's animated film adaptation of Lord of the Rings, playing the role of Aragorn.

His other roles in the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s included Kane, the first victim of the title creature in the film Alien 1979, a role which he reprised as a parody in Spaceballs; would-be art school radical Scrawdyke in Little Malcolm (1974); and also had a starring role in Sam Peckinpah's critically panned but moderately successful final film, The Osterman Weekend (1983). Also in this period, he starred as the Fool opposite Laurence Olivier's King in King Lear (1983). Hurt also appeared as Raskolnikov in a BBC television adaptation of Crime and Punishment (1979).

In the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), he played Mr Ollivander, the wand-maker. He returned for the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though his scenes in that film were cut. He also returned for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -Part 1 and Part 2.

In the 2006 film V for Vendetta, he played the role of Adam Sutler, leader of the Norsefire fascist dictatorship and in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) he appeared as Harold Oxley.

Hurt died at his home in Cromer, Norfolk, on 25 January 2017, three days after his 77th birthday.

More information: The Guardian

 I've never changed the way I live.
I still walk the streets; I don't give a damn.
And everyone's very nice to me.
But this new idea of being famous for no reason at all?
I can't actually get my head round it.

John Hurt

ALIEN, IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM

Alien

The Grandma is at home today. She has invited Claire Fontaine to watch Alien, one of their favourite films of sci-fi.

The Grandma remembers the premiere of this masterpiece on a day like today in 1979. Forty years after this premiere, the film continues being one of the most magnificent films of the history of the cinema.

Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon. Based on a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, it follows the crew of the commercial space tug Nostromo who encounter the eponymous Alien, a deadly and aggressive extraterrestrial set loose on the ship.

The film stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill through their company Brandywine Productions, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Giler and Hill revised and made additions to the script; Shusett was executive producer. The Alien and its accompanying artifacts were designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, while concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the more human settings.

More information: The New York Times

Alien was released on May 25, 1979 in the United States and September 6 in the United Kingdom. It was met with critical acclaim and box office success, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, three Saturn Awards (Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright), and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other nominations. It has been consistently praised in the years since its release, and is considered one of the greatest films of all time.

In 2002, Alien was deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

In 2008, it was ranked by the American Film Institute as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre, and as the thirty-third greatest film of all time by Empire magazine.

The crew of Nostromo

The success of Alien spawned a media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys. It also launched Weaver's acting career, providing her with her first lead role. The story of her character's encounters with the Alien creatures became the thematic and narrative core of the sequels Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997). A crossover with the Predator franchise produced the Alien vs. Predator films, which includes Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). A prequel series includes Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017).

The commercial space tug Nostromo is on a return trip to Earth with a seven-member crew in stasis, Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Warrant Officer Ripley, Navigator Lambert, Science Officer Ash and two Engineers, Parker and Brett. Detecting a transmission from nearby moon LV-426, the ship's computer, Mother, awakens the crew. Company policy requires any potential distress signal be investigated, so they land on the moon, sustaining damage from its atmosphere and rocky landscape. Parker and Brett repair the ship while Dallas, Kane and Lambert head out to investigate. They discover the signal comes from a derelict alien ship and enter it, losing communication with the Nostromo. Ripley deciphers part of the transmission, determining it to be a warning, but cannot relay this information to those on the derelict ship.

More information: The Guardian

Meanwhile, Kane discovers a chamber containing hundreds of large egg-like objects. When he touches one, a creature springs out, breaks through his helmet, and attaches itself to his face. Dallas and Lambert carry the unconscious Kane back to the Nostromo. As acting senior officer, Ripley refuses to let them aboard, citing quarantine regulations, but Ash overrides her decision and lets them inside.

Ash attempts to remove the creature from Kane's face but stops when he discovers that its blood is an extremely corrosive acid. It later detaches on its own and is found dead. The ship is partly repaired, and the crew lifts off. Kane awakens with some memory loss but is otherwise unharmed. During a final crew meal before returning to stasis, he chokes and convulses. A small alien creature bursts from Kane's chest, killing him, and escapes into the ship.

Warrant Officer Ripley

The crew attempts to locate it with tracking devices and capture or kill it with nets, electric prods and flamethrowers. Brett follows the crew's cat Jones into a huge supply room, where the now fully-grown alien attacks him and disappears with his body.

After heated discussion, the crew decide the creature must be in the air ducts. Dallas enters the ducts, intending to force the alien into an airlock, but it ambushes and kills him. Lambert implores the others to abandon ship and escape in its small shuttle. Now in command, Ripley explains it will not support four people and pursues the plan of flushing out the alien.

Now with access to Mother, Ripley discovers Ash has been secretly ordered by the company to bring the alien back, with the crew deemed expendable. She confronts Ash, who tries to choke her to death. Parker intervenes and clubs Ash, knocking his head loose and revealing him to be an android. Ash's head is reactivated, and they learn he was assigned to ensure the creature's survival. He expresses admiration for the creature's psychology, unhindered by conscience or morality, and taunts them about their chances of survival. Ripley cuts off his power; as they leave, Parker incinerates him.

More information: Cinephilia & Beyond

The remaining crew decides to self-destruct the Nostromo and escape in the shuttle. Parker and Lambert are killed by the creature as they gather supplies. Ripley initiates the self-destruct sequence, but finds the alien blocking her path to the shuttle. She retreats and attempts unsuccessfully to abort the self-destruct. With no further options, she makes her way to the shuttle and barely escapes as the Nostromo explodes.

As Ripley prepares for stasis, she discovers that the alien is aboard, having wedged itself into a narrow space. She puts on a spacesuit and uses gas to flush the creature out. It approaches Ripley, but before it can attack she opens an airlock door, almost blowing the creature into space. It manages to hang on by gripping the frame. Ripley shoots it with a grappling hook, but the gun catches as the airlock door closes, tethering the alien to the shuttle. As it floats into one of the engine exhausts, Ripley ignites them to blast the creature free. After recording the final log entry, she places herself and the cat into stasis for the trip home to Earth.

The musical score for Alien was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, conducted by Lionel Newman, and performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

The sets of the Nostromo's three decks were each created almost entirely in one piece, with each deck occupying a separate stage. The actors had to navigate through the hallways that connected the stages, adding to the film's sense of claustrophobia and realism.

More information: Yahoo

 When I started the original Alien,

Ripley wasn't a woman, it was a guy.

Ridley Scott