He could play it cool or white-hot, philosophically curious or passionate to a fault — a movie star with leading-man good lucks and a character actor’s way of digging into the idiosyncrasies of a role no matter what size it was. William Hurt, who died today at the age of 71, was one of those performers who could seem both brainy yet profoundly empathetic whether he was playing noble, saintly men or manipulative bastards; he famously had contempt for the film industry, but he never showed contempt for his audiences. And while Hurt’s heyday may have been in the 1980s, when he had a slew of parts that ranged from a scientist exploring the outer boundaries of consciousness (Altered States) to a grieving travel-guide writer (The Accidental Tourist), he never stopped working. Hurt spoke proudly of finding fulfillment in theater roles for $250 a week and recently turned a one-episode…
