User blog:Jiskran/R.I.P. John Hurt

Garrick Ollivander is stock-taking in the great wandshop in the sky. Yes, I'm aware it's not the literal or literary case, but I hope, having played him for a long while here, I will be forgiven the theatrical of the the expression. Hurt, who was 77, was a seminal presence on the British screen, and created a tone with all sort of tiny elements which often shaped whole films. In the specific case of HP, he was Harry's first Diagon Alley encounter, and the drama and dread in his obscure emporium spoke to the utter unknowns into which Harry was stepping.

For horror/SF fans of course, Hurt is always the man with the alien-exploding-out-of-it chest from the 1979 original in that series, but for those who value profound and truly taxing roles, his "Elephant Man" is one of the greatest performances under heavy makeup every captured on film, and given CGI it's unlikely many actors in the future will be subjected to eight hours in the chair just to get ready.