At a special memorial event on Sunday 25 June, the British Film Institute‘s CEO Amanda Nevill announced that BFI Southbank will host a film and television season dedicated to BFI Fellow Sir John Hurt, who died in January.
The John Hurt season will take place at BFI Southbank from 1 – 31 January 2018, marking one year since the respected actor passed away. The memorial event this weekend – Sir John Hurt: A Celebration – was hosted by film critic Mark Kermode, curated by Anwen Hurt and featured some of Hurt’s most celebrated moments on screen, accompanied by tributes and memories from some of the people who worked with him throughout his life including BAFTA-winning director Sir Alan Parker, Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas, writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry, actors Toby Jones and Penelope Wilton and from politics and diplomacy, Cathy Ashton.
Sir John Hurt holds a significant place in film history and made an outstanding contribution to British film and television during his extensive career. From his early roles in A Man for all Seasons (1966), 10 Rillington Place ( 1971), Alien (1979) and I, Claudius (1976) through to compelling performances in The Naked Civil Servant (Thames, 1975), Midnight Express(1978), The Elephant Man(1980), Love and Death on Long Island (1997), V for Vendetta (2005), Jackie(2016) and even taking the role of the previously unknown ‘War Doctor’ for the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who in 2013 (a role he recently reprised for the Big Finish audio stories).
