Mary Beth Hurt, 1946 – 2026

Stage and screen actress Mary Beth Hurt, 79, died on March 28 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. Hurt was similar in style to William Hurt, to whom she was married (from 1971-82); both sublimated movie-star glamour to give quiet, intelligent performances. Mary Beth was a regular on Broadway from the 1970s through 2011; in such shows as The Rules of the Game, The Member of the Wedding, the old warhorse Trelawney of the ‘Wells,’ The Cherry Orchard, Crimes of the Heart, A Delicate Balance, and The House of Blue Leaves (she earned three Tony nominations). Hurt also appeared in numerous films, the best of which included Interiors, The World According to Garp, Slaves of New York, The Age of Innocence, Six Degrees of Separation, Autumn in New York, and Lebanon, PA (she also costarred in the TV series Nick & Hillary and Working It Out). She was also married to writer/director Paul Schrader, who survives. “I think I always was an actress,” Hurt once said. “It was a matter of finding out that acting was a profession. That happened the first time I ever saw a play. It was put on by high school kids who lived in the neighborhood; and I suddenly realized that all those people on television and the movies were actors. Once I knew that, it wasn't a matter of that's what I wanted to be, but that's what I was.”