RIP William Hurt, Who Played 'Paul Auster' at a Typewriter

William Hurt at a Smith-Corona typewriter in Smoke.

The actor William Hurt has died, one week before his 72nd birthday. It’s almost four years since Hurt revealed he had terminal prostate cancer that had already metastasized to the bones. He died from complications of the disease at his home in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday.

Hurt was filmed at a typewriter (a Smith-Corona electric) in at least one movie – 1995’s Smoke. He played writer Paul Benjamin, to some degree based on the author of the original story and the scriptwriter, Paul Auster, below, a man well known for his adulation and use of typewriters (primarily an Olympia SM9).

The script centres around Paul and Brooklyn tobaconnist Augustus “Auggie” Wren (played by the great Harvey Keitel). The character Paul tells Auggie that he has been asked by The New York Times to write a Christmas story to be published on Christmas Day. Auggie offers to tell him the best Christmas story he has ever heard in exchange for lunch. The story is based on Auster's feature “Auggie Wren's Christmas Story”, published in The New York Times on Christmas 25, 1990.

William McChord Hurt was born on March 20, 1950, in Washington, DC, the son of Claire Isabel (née McGill, 1923-71), who worked for Time Inc, and Alfred McChord Hurt (1910-96), who worked for the United States Agency for International Development and State Department. With his father, he lived in Lahore, Mogadishu and Khartoum. His parents divorced and, in 1960, his mother married Henry Luce III (1925-2005), a son of publisher Henry Luce.

William Hurt will be remembered for The Big Chill (1981) and Broadcast News (1987). Smoke ends to the music of Tom Waits with Innocent When You Dream.