William Hurt, an Oscar winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman who often played a quiet intellectual in his early acting roles but later took more strident turns in science fiction and Marvel films, died today, a week before his 72nd birthday.

“It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday,” his son wrote.

Hurt had three consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations in the mid-1980s for Kiss of the Spider Woman – for which he also won Best Actor at the BAFTAs and the Cannes Film Festival – Children of a Lesser God and Broadcast News.

Hurt was involved in one of the worst on-set accidents in recent memory in 2014.When a train plowed into the set on a bridge in rural Georgia, killing camera assistant Sarah Jones and wounding several others, he was playing as Gregg Allman in filmmaker Randall Miller’s biography, Midnight Rider. Hurt was on the trestle but managed to get away unscathed.

“It’s the sorrow of my professional life and one of the great sorrows of my personal life,” Hurt later said of the accident.

Shortly after the accident, director-producer Miller attempted to move forward with the production, but Hurt quit rather than return to the film.

To younger fans, Hurt was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films in his role as the blustering Thaddeus Ross, a General who was there on the fateful day Bruce Banner became the Hulk.

Starting in 1977, Hurt was a member of the Circle Repertory Company, winning an Obie Award for his appearance in Corinne Jacker’s My Life.