As the blockbuster continued its unstoppable ascent in the 1980s, an antidote of sorts could be found in many of the films of the actor William Hurt, who has died aged 71 of cancer. With his floppy blond hair, high forehead and droll, methodical voice, he exhibited a cerebral presence and an enviable range. He could seem erudite, threatening or suave, though he was at his most interesting playing men who were demonstrably less intelligent than he was.
These included a dim-witted but charismatic TV anchor in Broadcast News (1987) and a brutish gangster hunting his own brother in A History of Violence (2005).
