Dutch actor, Rutger Hauer, who portrayed the replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner, has passed away.
Born January 23, 1944 in Breukelen, Netherlands, Rutger Olesen Hauer was drawn to becoming an actor at an early age as both his parents were owners of a touring acting school.
A rebel from the get go he was always getting into mischief, finally running away to join the crew of a freighter to become a sailor, but suffering from colour blindness it soon ended his career.
His parents enrolled him in drama school, but Mr. Hauer spent most of his time avoiding classes frequenting coffee houses and writing poetry. After being expelled, he joined the navy, but found it didn’t suit him so he convinced his superior officers that he was mentally unfit and was placed in a psych ward convincing the navy that they didn’t need him getting a general discharge.
He became good friends with director Paul Verhoeven who placed him in many of his films with his best performance being Solider of Orange.
An incredible body of work, the gifted actor performed in over a 150 films and television episodes that include Turkish Delight, Wanted Dead or Alive portraying the grandson of Steve McQueen’s Josh Randall, Ladyhawke, the creepy serial killer in The Hitcher, Nighthawks, Flesh and Blood, The 10th Kingdom, Blood of the Innocent, Dario Argento’s Dracula as Dr. Van Helsing, plus many more notable roles.
His final role was portraying the Ghost of Christmas Future for a television broadcast of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
STARBURST sends our thoughts to his friends and family.
