Editing John Hurt (section)

=== 1981–1999 ===
Hurt also had a starring role in [[Sam Peckinpah]]'s critically panned but moderately successful final film, ''[[The Osterman Weekend (film)|The Osterman Weekend]]'' (1983). Also in this period, he starred as the Fool opposite [[Laurence Olivier]]'s King in ''[[King Lear (1983 TV drama)|King Lear]]'' (1983). Hurt also appeared as [[Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov|Raskolnikov]] in a BBC television adaptation of ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' (1979).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/3664580/Why-Im-so-furious-with-the-BBC.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/3664580/Why-Im-so-furious-with-the-BBC.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Why I'm So Furious with the BBC|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=18 April 2007|access-date=28 January 2017|first=Jasper|last=Rees}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Hurt voiced Snitter in ''[[The Plague Dogs (film)|The Plague Dogs]]'', played  Winston Smith in the [[Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 film)|film adaptation]] of [[George Orwell]]'s novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1984) and starred in [[Disney]]'s ''[[The Black Cauldron (film)|The Black Cauldron]]'' (1985), voicing the film's main antagonist, the [[Horned King]]. Hurt provided the voiceover for ''[[AIDS: Don't Die of Ignorance|AIDS: Iceberg/Tombstone]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1210462/index.html |title=BFI Screenonline: AIDS: Iceberg / Tombstone |publisher=Screenonline.org.uk|access-date=26 May 2013}}</ref> a 1986 [[public information film]] warning of the dangers of AIDS, and played the title role, the on-screen narrator, in [[Jim Henson]]'s television series ''[[The Storyteller (TV series)|The StoryTeller]]'' (1988). Hurt appeared in the 1987 [[Bob Clark]]-directed movie ''[[From the Hip (film)|From the Hip]]''.

He had a supporting role as "Bird" O'Donnell in [[Jim Sheridan]]'s film ''[[The Field (1990 film)|The Field]]'' (1990), which garnered him another BAFTA nomination. In this film, Hurt starred alongside [[Richard Harris]] who earned a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]]. In [[King Ralph]] (1991) Hurt played Lord Percival Graves. Hurt portrayed [[James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose]] in the historical drama ''[[Rob Roy (1995 film)|Rob Roy]]'' opposite [[Liam Neeson]], [[Jessica Lange]] and [[Tim Roth]]. That same year he acted in the [[Jim Jarmusch]] directed Western ''[[Dead Man]]'' starring [[Johnny Depp]], and [[Walter Hill]]'s Western ''[[Wild Bill (1995 film)|Wild Bill]]'' (1995) with [[Jeff Bridges]].

In 1997 he starred in [[Richard Kwietniowski]]'s ''[[Love and Death on Long Island]]'' for which he was nominated for the [[BIFA for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film]]. He was cast as the reclusive tycoon S. R. Hadden in ''[[Contact (1997 American film)|Contact]]'' (1997).<ref name="Telegraphobit"/> During this time, Hurt provided narration on the British musical group [[Art of Noise]]'s concept album ''[[The Seduction of Claude Debussy]]'' and narrated a four-part TV series ''The Universe'' (1999).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605560/|title=Universe (TV Series 1999) – IMDb|publisher=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>