Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, who gave a memorable performance in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and appeared in everything from Batman Begins to Hobo with a Shotgun, died last Friday, the 19th, in his Netherlands home following a “short illness,” Variety reports. The funeral was held today. He was 75 years old.
Hauer’s career took off in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he appeared in multiple Paul Verhoeven projects, including the Dutch series Floris and Turkish Delight, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. His big break in America came in the 1980s with roles in Nighthawks, starring Sylvester Stallone, and Blade Runner, now considered one of the greatest science-fiction films ever. Hauer later gave a stunning performance in the Golden Lion-winning The Legend of the Holy Drinker, where he played an alcoholic homeless man (not to be confused with the hobo and his shotgun). He was also in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, last year’s The Sisters Brothers, and so much more.
He was active in social causes as an outspoken sponsor of the environmental organization Greenpeace and the founder the Starfish Association, a non-profit devoted to AIDS awareness. He is survived by his second wife of 50 years, Ineke ten Cate, and a daughter, actress Aysha Hauer, from his marriage to Heidi Merz. (Via)
It’s time to watch the monologue for the 60th time.
(Via Variety)
