John Hurt, dead at 77

well son of a bitch. A guy could get to feeling lonely these days.

I haven't seen all of his movies. I particularly like The Elephant Man.

Like you, the role that sticks with me is Caligula, for the kid it's Mr Ollivander from the Harry Potter films.

He was a really interesting man, bit of a hellraiser in his youth, hard drinking in Soho with the likes of Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, the two Scottish Roberts, MacBryde and Colquhoun.

It's italicised because I lifted it from an interview he did with the Telegraph on Thursday. It's probably the last interview he did.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/12050208/John-Hurt-alcoholic-is-a-silly-word.html

He was just wonderful in that role. It could have ended up as almost a 'disease of the week' film, or Merrick could have been played as an oddity or a martyr but Hurt played him so well.

Many thanks for the article. Hurt really was a guy who has a connection to several age groups.

He was brilliant, and will be missed.