Mary Beth Hurt, who was nominated for three Tonys and appeared in films including “Interiors” and “The World According to Garp,” died on Sunday from Alzheimer’s. She was 79.
Hurt’s death was confirmed via a joint Facebook post from her daughter, Molly Schrader, and her husband, writer-director Paul Schrader.
“She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend, and she took on all those roles with grace and kind ferocity,” read the post. “Although we’re all grieving there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and reunited with her sisters in peace.”
Hurt worked on stage, in films and in television and collaborated with her husband, Schrader, on “Affliction” and “Light Sleeper.”
Born Mary Beth Supinger in Marshalltown, Iowa, she was married to actor William Hurt from 1971 to 1981. She studied acting at the University of Iowa and then at NYU and made her debut on the New York stage in 1974.
She was Tony-nominated for her performances in “Crimes of the Heart,” for which she won an Obie, “Trelawny of the Wells” and “Benefactors.”
Woody Allen cast Hurt in her first film role in the 1998 “Interiors,” in which she played one of the three sisters dealing with the breakdown of her family. She followed with “The World According to Garp,” playing Helen Holm Garp, “Chilly Scenes of Winter,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Age of Innocence” and “Six Degrees of Separation.”
She told the New York Times in 1989 that she preferred to be selective about film roles. “Fifty percent of the roles I’m offered in films are nothing. I don’t mean sizewise. There’s nothing of any interest in them. So I do the ones that are interesting, unless I haven’t done one in a long while. Then I’ll do one that isn’t interesting.”
On television, Hurt guested on shows including “Law & Order,” “Thirtysomething” and “Kojak.”
She was nominated for an Indie Spirit award for 2006’s “The Dead Girl” and also appeared in “Young Adult,” “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” “The Lady in the Water” and “Change in the Air.”
She is survived by Schrader, a daughter and a son.
variety.com
#World #Garp
