Rest In Peace, Sir John Hurt

Sir John Hurt has passed away, at the age of 77, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. May he rest in peace; he died five days after his birthday. I mostly recognized him from his role as The War Doctor on Doctor Who, but apparently he was also the voice of the dragon on Merlin (which I watched for a couple seasons, and then jumped ship).

He is perhaps most famous for his role as Gilbert Kane in Alien (1979). His death scene is one that I unfortunately watched first at the age of 5, when it was suddenly shown in the middle of Terror In The Aisles (suspense films, stuff from the 40’s in black and white, sudden unexpected--well, to me--chestburster scene followed as the show talked about bloodier horror; I think that is how that went, and then gory then on out). I didn’t know that was him when I watched Spaceballs many years later.

He was The Horned King in The Black Cauldron (1985), and Aragorn in Lord of the Rings (the Ralph Bakshi version from 1978).

And when it comes to horror films, I remember him from Frankenstein Unbound (1990), and The Skeleton Key (2005). I haven’t seen The Ghoul (1975), so I need to watch that at some point, along with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (it also stars the late Alan Rickman) and Whistle And I’ll Come To You (2010).

(I don't have an icon of The War Doctor, so here's one of the Brigadier.)