Editing William Hurt (section)

=== 1977–1989: Early roles and stardom ===
Hurt began his career in stage productions. From 1977 to 1989, he was a member of the acting company at [[Circle Repertory Company]]. He won an [[Obie Award]] for his debut appearance there in [[Corinne Jacker]]'s ''My Life'', and won a 1978 [[Theatre World Award]] for his performances in ''[[Fifth of July (play)|Fifth of July]]'', ''Ulysses in Traction'', and ''Lulu''. In 1979, Hurt played [[Hamlet]] under the direction of [[Marshall W. Mason]] opposite [[Lindsay Crouse]] and [[Beatrice Straight]]. His first major film role was in the science-fiction film ''[[Altered States]]'' (1980), where his performance as an obsessed scientist gained him wide recognition. His performance opposite newcomer [[Kathleen Turner]] in [[Lawrence Kasdan]]'s [[neo-noir]] film ''[[Body Heat]]'' (1981) elevated Hurt to stardom. Kasdan and he became frequent collaborators: Hurt co-starred in Kasdan's acclaimed comedy-dramas ''[[The Big Chill (film)|The Big Chill]]'' (1983) and ''[[The Accidental Tourist (film)|The Accidental Tourist]]'' (1988), both of which were nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]], and he later had a supporting role in the ensemble comedy ''[[I Love You to Death]]'' (1990).

In the 1980s, Hurt received three consecutive [[Academy Award]] nominations for Best Actor, beginning with an Oscar win for his turn as a prisoner in [[Hector Babenco]]'s drama ''[[Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985 film)|Kiss of the Spider Woman]]'' in 1985. He also received the [[Prix d'interprétation masculine|Best Male Performance Prize]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] for this role. The ''[[New York Times]]'' wrote, "Mr. Hurt won a well-deserved best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for a performance that is crafty at first, carefully nurtured and finally stirring in profound, unanticipated ways... What starts out as a campy, facetious catalog of Hollywood trivia becomes an extraordinarily moving film about manhood, heroism and love."<ref>{{Cite news |title=William Hurt, Oscar-Winning Leading Man of the 1980s, Dies at 71 | work=The New York Times | date=March 13, 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/13/arts/william-hurt-dead.html | last1=Serviss | first1=Lew | last2=Genzlinger | first2=Neil }}</ref>

Hurt subsequently received Best Actor Oscar nominations for playing a speech teacher at a school for the deaf who falls for a deaf custodian in ''[[Children of a Lesser God (film)|Children of a Lesser God]]'' (1986) and for playing a dim-witted television news anchor in ''[[Broadcast News (film)|Broadcast News]]'' the following year. ''Broadcast News'', a romantic comedy directed by [[James L. Brooks]], would come to be Hurt's most acclaimed film, with an inclusion to the [[National Film Registry]] in the [[Library of Congress]] in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/12/12/675384976/jurassic-park-the-shining-and-23-other-movies-added-to-national-film-registry|title='Jurassic Park,' 'The Shining,' And 23 Other Movies Added To National Film Registry|website=NPR.org|date=December 12, 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-08-14|last1=Kimmelman |first1=Ruben }}</ref> After this run of prominent roles in the 1980s he appeared in the thriller ''[[Gorky Park (film)|Gorky Park]]'' (1983) opposite [[Lee Marvin]].