0:00:16 > 0:00:19John Hurt once said that acting was just
0:00:19 > 0:00:23"a sophisticated game of cowboys and Indians."
0:00:23 > 0:00:25If that's the case,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28it was a game at which he excelled.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32In a career that spanned six decades and over 100 films,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35he brought life and humanity to some of the most remarkable
0:00:35 > 0:00:40characters ever captured on the big and small screen.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44My name is John.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52I'm very, very pleased to meet you.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56He was never a heart-throb,
0:00:56 > 0:00:57but the camera loved him.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Especially as those features grew increasingly craggy with age.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05And he was blessed with a voice
0:01:05 > 0:01:09that audiences couldn't help but respond to,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11whether it was dealing with fact...
0:01:12 > 0:01:15It is a deadly disease and there is no known cure,
0:01:15 > 0:01:17so don't die of ignorance.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Or whether the words were wrapped around fantasy.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30And none of us can escape it.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32I like hearing your voice.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34What a great tool to have.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Have you cultured that, or is that just the way it has always come out?
0:01:37 > 0:01:40It's a family voice, really.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42I mean, my voice is the same as my brother, who's a monk,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46and my father, who was a clergyman.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48But then it's all same business, different department, really.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Selling something, in a different way, yeah!
0:01:54 > 0:01:58John often said that growing up in a vicarage surrounded by religion
0:01:58 > 0:02:02always made him feel slightly separate from others.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05He knew he wanted to be an actor
0:02:05 > 0:02:08after a school performance at the age of nine,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11but waited several years before telling his parents.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15That was when I was 13 and they said...
0:02:15 > 0:02:17They sort of said, "No, no, no -
0:02:17 > 0:02:19"you can't possibly do that,"
0:02:19 > 0:02:21and so on. "You're much too young,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24"you've got to have an education" and so on. And of course,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26to my parents, though they loved the theatre,
0:02:26 > 0:02:31they couldn't for the life of them begin to understand what...
0:02:31 > 0:02:35That one of theirs would actually be IN it,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37be the people that you go and watch.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43John's reputation would evolve over the years.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47For a while, he was known as a hard-drinking hell-raiser,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51four marriages hinting at a tempestuous private life.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54But then he was also, always,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57the warm, thoughtful figure
0:02:57 > 0:02:59captured in numerous television interviews
0:02:59 > 0:03:03who seemed to gravitate towards playing troubled outsiders
0:03:03 > 0:03:06and figures from society's fringes.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12I've always been interested in the misunderstood.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14It's the fact that my father was a clergyman
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and I was attached to the vicarage
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and...for that reason,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23you're already set slightly apart from a society
0:03:23 > 0:03:28because there is something because of the nature of religion...
0:03:28 > 0:03:32It is something which people are superstitious about.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36And they think, "Ooh, better not say THAT."
0:03:39 > 0:03:43John first gained widespread attention in 1966
0:03:43 > 0:03:45playing the villainous Richard Rich
0:03:45 > 0:03:48in A Man For All Seasons.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53In 1971, he earned a BAFTA nomination playing Timothy Evans,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56the man wrongly hanged
0:03:56 > 0:03:58in 10 Rillington Place.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03But the part that really made John a star
0:04:03 > 0:04:08was that of the gay icon and raconteur Quentin Crisp
0:04:08 > 0:04:11in the ground-breaking TV drama
0:04:11 > 0:04:13The Naked Civil Servant.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15- Mr Crisp...- Stand up.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19Have you any other witnesses to character?
0:04:21 > 0:04:22About ten, I think.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26I'm tired of this recital of your praises.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29There is insufficient evidence to convict.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33'It was extremely risque at the time, it was, er...'
0:04:33 > 0:04:36a contentious piece, and many people
0:04:36 > 0:04:37advised me not to do it,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39on the grounds that playing
0:04:39 > 0:04:41a homosexual was going to...
0:04:43 > 0:04:45..end my career, basically.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47And it was my opinion that it was...
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Although it was... He was, although Quentin Crisp
0:04:49 > 0:04:53was an effeminate homosexual, of which his life was a crusade,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55but in a sense, that's not
0:04:55 > 0:04:59what it was about - it was about all the things that went with it.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02It was about the... It was... Robert Bolt put it
0:05:02 > 0:05:03in a letter to me afterwards and said,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06"This is about the tenderness of the individual
0:05:06 > 0:05:07"as opposed to the cruelty of the crowd."
0:05:07 > 0:05:11And that is indeed what it was about.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13I just knew that it was a superb script.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16I did, I really... I thought it was wonderful
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and it did everything that I love in drama.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22It made you laugh, it made you cry, it made you think.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24It was a magical piece.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28It was watched from people, you know, from 16 to 80
0:05:28 > 0:05:31and changed people's minds
0:05:31 > 0:05:35about their own personal bigotry and so on.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38I mean, it really did have a colossal effect.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40The world is full of aborigines who don't even realise
0:05:40 > 0:05:43that homosexuality exists.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46I shall go about the routine of daily living
0:05:46 > 0:05:51making this particular fact abundantly clear to them.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Do you go to these extremes to test yourself,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56to prove that you're a clever actor?
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Oh, no - I'm not a clever actor!
0:05:58 > 0:06:03All I try to do is to get as near as I can to the truth of
0:06:03 > 0:06:05the character that I've been asked to play,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08that I've been kindly invited to play.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Did you make any preparation with Quentin Crisp before
0:06:11 > 0:06:15- you played this part?- I did a certain amount of preparation.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20I remember I asked him to Sunday lunch a couple of times.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22I remember also distinctly asking him if he would like a drink
0:06:22 > 0:06:26and he said he would like a Guinness and after he'd had a Guinness,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28I said, "Would you like another?" and he said, "Yes".
0:06:28 > 0:06:31So I gave him another and then later in the afternoon, I said,
0:06:31 > 0:06:32"Would you like another?",
0:06:32 > 0:06:35and he said "No, any more would be a debauch."
0:06:35 > 0:06:37LAUGHTER
0:06:37 > 0:06:39The sort of extent I knew him to, to that extent.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Do you immediately pick up the way of speaking?
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Cos you're doing it now. Did you immediately pick up his pattern?
0:06:44 > 0:06:46In actual fact... Yes, it's a pattern that I use,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48I didn't really imitate it,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50because actually it's inimitable
0:06:50 > 0:06:52and also, it would take forever.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55But I notice in the film, that you or he, or both of you,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59or in the concealment that lights the art, that you stop before you
0:06:59 > 0:07:02actually give any answer to a question, almost.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04- Did I?- Yeah.- Ahh...
0:07:04 > 0:07:07- Or HE does.- Well, maybe it WAS clever acting!
0:07:07 > 0:07:08LAUGHTER
0:07:10 > 0:07:13It certainly felt that way.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15But there was more clever acting
0:07:15 > 0:07:18to come in 1978, in Alan Parker's
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Midnight Express, based on
0:07:20 > 0:07:23the true life story of Billy Hayes.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24John played Max,
0:07:24 > 0:07:29a heroin addict enduring a cruel prison regime in Turkey.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Best thing to do is to get your arse out of here.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37Best way you can.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Yeah, but how?
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Catch the Midnight Express.
0:07:42 > 0:07:43What's that?
0:07:47 > 0:07:49It's not a train!
0:07:51 > 0:07:52It's a prison word for...
0:07:54 > 0:07:55..escape.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59HE GIGGLES
0:08:01 > 0:08:03It doesn't stop around here.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08That performance brought John international acclaim -
0:08:08 > 0:08:11a BAFTA, a Golden Globe
0:08:11 > 0:08:13and his first Oscar nomination.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Certainly for a British actor, it is...
0:08:17 > 0:08:21to be nominated is the most important thing - to win the Oscar
0:08:21 > 0:08:25would certainly be sugar on the cake, but...
0:08:25 > 0:08:27It is very useful, because...
0:08:27 > 0:08:30it does give you a standing in America.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32When you're doing a part,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34I was reading that you don't do much research,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38you work very much to the script, what the script presents to you.
0:08:38 > 0:08:39- Is that right?- That's right, yes.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42So you've really got to then have a marvellous script
0:08:42 > 0:08:44that really gives you the feeling,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47because I believe one thing Billy Hayes said, it was so amazing when
0:08:47 > 0:08:51he saw you as Max, you were so like the real Max in that Turkish prison.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53I believe they thought they'd got the real Max back at one stage
0:08:53 > 0:08:56- when he first saw it.- You did that just simply from the script?
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Yes, it's not entirely my invention, but between the team - the make-up
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and costume and everybody, and Alan, and ideas thrown in,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06it's...what we invented.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11The success of Midnight Express came when John was going through
0:09:11 > 0:09:14one of his drinking phases,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16which were notorious, even though
0:09:16 > 0:09:20he said they were "largely exaggerated".
0:09:23 > 0:09:26"Your love life and your drinking" - what does that mean?
0:09:26 > 0:09:28I mean, er... It's...
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Come on, you yourself said,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35"I was drinking five bottles of wine a day."
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Oh, yes, I was provoked into saying something,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41somebody made me say something which I just...
0:09:41 > 0:09:44It's amazing how somebody sees one little snippet
0:09:44 > 0:09:46in a newspaper and then...
0:09:46 > 0:09:48hangs onto that for the rest...
0:09:48 > 0:09:50For year after year after year
0:09:50 > 0:09:52until it becomes decades!
0:09:52 > 0:09:54And, and...
0:09:54 > 0:09:56But did you spend a large part...
0:09:56 > 0:10:00One little remark that I probably made because it was rather provoked,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04in a sense, somebody was being holier-than-thou or something,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06and I made some flippant remark...
0:10:06 > 0:10:09- So you weren't half-cut a lot of the time?- Hmm?
0:10:09 > 0:10:11- You weren't half-cut...?- No! Even if I was,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13you wouldn't have known it.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17- You know?- But you stopped drinking...- I'm cleverer than THAT!
0:10:19 > 0:10:20You've stopped drinking now, though?
0:10:20 > 0:10:22And that was during Midnight Express,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25which I was nominated for and got a British Academy Award for,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27plus several others, so I mean, it's...
0:10:29 > 0:10:33And it is true, it's a fact that I did use alcohol on that film.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35But whether it was five bottles,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37I think that's probably going over the top!
0:10:37 > 0:10:43But you recognise this image of yourself as having a turbulent past?
0:10:45 > 0:10:46Well...
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Or not?
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Well, yes, I suppose, um...
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Yes, it was a turbulent time I lived in, really.
0:10:54 > 0:10:55'60s.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59You know? O'Toole, Harris.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04A lot of those people, you know?
0:11:04 > 0:11:08They were people that I looked up to immensely, O'Toole, particularly.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12I was watching him on TV from...
0:11:14 > 0:11:16When I was sort of sitting up in Grimsby, you know,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20wondering how I was going to manage to do what I wanted to do.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24So I suppose so, yes.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28But I just think that too much is made of it, in a sense,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33but it's made into, like, a way of life...
0:11:34 > 0:11:36That, um...
0:11:36 > 0:11:39As though this is the way you live every single day of your life -
0:11:39 > 0:11:42well, I mean, it would be impossible to go through my CV
0:11:42 > 0:11:44if I lived that way.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47You know? I've made over 80 films!
0:11:47 > 0:11:50- Not to mention the theatre, not to mention the television.- OK.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54So I mean, it's unlikely that that would be...
0:11:54 > 0:11:56that would be my daily routine.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00I suppose it's really rather like being at school,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02when I was at school. If I was out of bounds, I was caught.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06If I do anything wrong, I seem to get caught.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08You ask me, am I a victim? Perhaps I am!
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Perhaps it comes from way back, you know?
0:12:13 > 0:12:16John was definitely the victim in one of his next roles.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19But it didn't come from way back -
0:12:20 > 0:12:23more burst out from the front -
0:12:24 > 0:12:27and made him the first person to suffer a gruesome death
0:12:27 > 0:12:31in the hugely successful Alien franchise.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Was the working process, the experience of making the film
0:12:36 > 0:12:39- a pleasurable one?- Ooh, science fiction is always a tricky one,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43to say... Of all the genres,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46I would say that science fiction was the trickiest.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48The least enjoyable, really.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51There's so much waiting, and also, with Ridley, at that time,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53particularly.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56And Ridley was terrified of actors, so the minute you asked him
0:12:56 > 0:13:00a question, he'd go and hide behind the camera, you know? It was...
0:13:00 > 0:13:01It was his first major film.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04He'd done The Duellists before, that's all.
0:13:04 > 0:13:05But, er...it was endless.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08You'd be in full stuff - full make-up,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13and full costume and you'd get down and work out a huge track and so on.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16You'd then... There'd be a little hustle of conversation
0:13:16 > 0:13:18they'd decide to change the whole thing,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20so you'd all go upstairs and come back
0:13:20 > 0:13:24and we did, I mean, three, four days in full costume, make-up,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26without doing anything at all, you know?
0:13:26 > 0:13:29You can't say that that's particularly enjoyable.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30But what an incredible film.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33But when you were DOING it, it was great. Yeah. Terrific film, I agree.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39It was a completely different sort of gruesome
0:13:39 > 0:13:43that John explored in another Oscar-nominated role -
0:13:43 > 0:13:45that of John Merrick,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48in David Lynch's 1980 film
0:13:48 > 0:13:50The Elephant Man.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53His unforgettably moving performance
0:13:53 > 0:13:56revealed to audiences not a monster,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00but a man, complex and suffering.
0:14:00 > 0:14:01Somehow, he achieved this
0:14:01 > 0:14:05whilst working under layers of restrictive make-up
0:14:05 > 0:14:09and without initially a clear idea of his character's voice.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13I had not the slightest idea
0:14:13 > 0:14:16what it was going to sound like.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20And I didn't have any idea until I was fitted with gums and...
0:14:21 > 0:14:24HE TRIES TO ARTICULATE SOME WORDS
0:14:25 > 0:14:29All the things that add to your imagination.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32This is John Merrick.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34Hello.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38My name's John Merrick, I'm very pleased to meet you.
0:14:38 > 0:14:39I'm very pleased to meet you.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45How are you feeling today?
0:14:45 > 0:14:46II feel much better.
0:14:48 > 0:14:49Are you comfortable here?
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Everyone's been very kind.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00'I wanted to play what he dreamt of being.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05'So, in other words, that's why I chose a rather middle-class voice.
0:15:05 > 0:15:06'Because that's what he dreamt of.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09'He wanted to be part of society, he wanted to be accepted,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13'and I wanted to play that area of him that was like that.'
0:15:13 > 0:15:15The weight of that thing, presumably,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17was quite astonishing, the weight of the...
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Well, the weight was astonishing, insofar as it was very light.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23- Ah.- It is like, it is like touching solid air.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25And that was one of the great difficulties of it,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28because it has to be so accurate when you're putting it on.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31There you are now, in full gear there.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Were you affected by it?
0:15:34 > 0:15:36- Affected by it?- Yeah.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Well, yes, in a sense, because it takes seven hours to put on.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42So, in other words, you've done a day's work, really...
0:15:42 > 0:15:44What time did you have to be there?
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Well, we started about five o'clock in the morning and finished
0:15:47 > 0:15:50at noon, and then we'd shoot from noon through till 10:30 at night.
0:15:50 > 0:15:51And, er...
0:15:53 > 0:15:56So... During that period of make-up, though...
0:15:56 > 0:16:00was probably the best period of time any actor ever had to prepare...
0:16:00 > 0:16:03- Because you could think about... - Well, you could think about it...
0:16:03 > 0:16:06- And you could think about John Merrick, yes.- Could you eat?
0:16:06 > 0:16:09No... You could eat, but 9:00 in the morning was my last meal,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13which was orange juice mixed with two raw eggs through a straw.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14AUDIENCE MURMURS
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Could you hear?
0:16:16 > 0:16:19I could hear, yes. I did manage actually...
0:16:19 > 0:16:22You won't like this at all. But I did manage a way to smoke.
0:16:22 > 0:16:23LAUGHTER
0:16:23 > 0:16:24With a very long holder.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27- No, no, I managed a way of getting the teeth out.- Ha-ha!
0:16:27 > 0:16:30I did that surreptitiously in the dressing room,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32- without anybody knowing. - Right, right.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Throughout this chapter of his life,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40John's partner was Marie-Lise Volpeliere-Pierrot,
0:16:40 > 0:16:46a former model. They had been together since 1967
0:16:46 > 0:16:50and after 16 years, were planning to marry.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52But whilst out riding together,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56as part of John's preparations for the 1984 movie Champions,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Marie-Lise was thrown from her horse
0:17:00 > 0:17:02and died later the same day.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Despite the tragedy,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09John fought through his grief and completed the film.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14His determination echoed the main theme of Champions,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18which told the story of Bob Champion, the jockey, who famously
0:17:18 > 0:17:23fought his way back from cancer to win the 1981 Grand National,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27and Aldaniti, the winning horse that had been written off
0:17:27 > 0:17:30after a career-threatening injury.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33You had a great personal tragedy yourself,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36just before you started the film, didn't you?
0:17:36 > 0:17:37When Marie-Lise was killed.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Did that in any way deter you at all from making the film?
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Or did it in a curious way, did it help to have suffered,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45as you must have done?
0:17:45 > 0:17:49I think the second is probably nearer, it made the determination
0:17:49 > 0:17:53stronger, partly because I know that that she would have been...
0:17:53 > 0:17:58deeply upset if I'd turned it down. If you can... You know...
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Difficult to say that about someone who has died, you know, but...
0:18:02 > 0:18:04In your head you can't help thinking that way.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07At least, I can't help thinking that way. And, erm...
0:18:07 > 0:18:11It just made me the more determined, I think.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13What is...I would have thought was difficult about the film,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16in some ways, is that everybody knows the outcome.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Yes, I mean, I could be difficult and say
0:18:20 > 0:18:22they know the end of Hamlet as well.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Admittedly, it doesn't have the same track to go through to get there.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28But it certainly...
0:18:28 > 0:18:30It is a film with immense problems, I mean,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33we're dealing with cancer, we're dealing with horse racing,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36we're dealing with an end that you know.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40And perhaps it's a great arrogance to take on all three at once.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Here at Aintree racecourse,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44a few days after the real Grand National,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47director John Irvin's task is to recreate the atmosphere
0:18:47 > 0:18:51and excitement of one of the most famous sporting events in the world.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Racehorses and jockeys and a cast of 1,000 are mixed together
0:18:54 > 0:18:56to make it look authentic.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59As for John Hurt, well, while he doesn't haven't actually
0:18:59 > 0:19:02have to jump Becher's Brook, he does have to look convincing.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05I've never ridden as a jockey, which is totally different,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07you disobey all the rules,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10which kind of pleases my sense of rebellion, in a certain sense.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12You can do everything that the Pony Club tell you
0:19:12 > 0:19:13you shouldn't, if you see what I mean.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16- Keep the horse as close to the rail as you can.- Yeah.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Otherwise it becomes difficult
0:19:18 > 0:19:21to get you, the horse and the winning post in on this camera.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24- Right.- So, as tight as you can to the rail.- Yeah.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28One of the things that chemotherapy, which is the...
0:19:28 > 0:19:30the therapy that Bob underwent,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33one of the things it does is that it gives you alopecia.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35So in order to be able to do that, because, of course,
0:19:35 > 0:19:37films are not all shot in sequence,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40in order to be able to do that, then we...
0:19:40 > 0:19:43I'm bald underneath everything, really.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46We also have a marvellous wigmaker, who makes me look
0:19:46 > 0:19:49infinitely more attractive with a wig on than I do with my own hair.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51So I'm quite pleased about that too.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Surprisingly, it was Aldaniti himself
0:19:56 > 0:19:58that John was riding in the film.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Actually, I've been up on him first time today,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and he is a magnificent animal, no getting away from that, fantastic.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Fantastic ride.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13But I'm not sure that I'd like to be doing the whole race with him,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16because I think I might finish up in Blackpool, frankly.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Another two lengths and a little more separation between them.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24You mustn't mistake fact for truth. That's basically the thing.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29You have to make the piece work as if it were a piece of fiction.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32It has to work in its own right, in other words, you can't just keep
0:20:32 > 0:20:34saying to the audience, "You've got to believe this
0:20:34 > 0:20:36"because it happens to be true."
0:20:36 > 0:20:38It may be factual, but you have to find the truth, anyway,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41as you would do even if it were fiction.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45CHEERING
0:20:46 > 0:20:48It's an unusual film.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51People say, "Well, you're making this cancer movie."
0:20:51 > 0:20:52It isn't a cancer movie.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54And other people say, "You're making this racing movie."
0:20:54 > 0:20:57It's not a racing movie. All of this is part of it,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59part of it in the background and so on. But...
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Basically, its main theme is that of courage, I think.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07It's an upbeat, massive courage.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14Champions was one of the three big successes John enjoyed in 1984.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17As well as the Grand National hero,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20he was a gun-toting professional killer in Stephen Frears'
0:21:20 > 0:21:25highly-praised film, The Hit.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28And played Winston Smith in Michael Radford's
0:21:28 > 0:21:33adaptation of George Orwell's classic novel, 1984.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38The range of skill displayed in these three performances earned
0:21:38 > 0:21:43huge acclaim, and combined, they won him that year's best actor prize
0:21:43 > 0:21:47at the Evening Standard Film Awards.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49APPLAUSE
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Your Royal Highness, my lords, ladies and gentlemen...
0:21:56 > 0:22:01As most of my best friends know, I'm very easily embarrassed. Er...
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Probably stemming from the fact that when I was at school,
0:22:05 > 0:22:11I found it very difficult to come anywhere near the top of the form.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15And it embarrassed my parents and therefore it embarrassed me.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18However, I find it even more embarrassing to find myself
0:22:18 > 0:22:21at an evening where I seem to have come top of the form
0:22:21 > 0:22:23in three different classes.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Certainly, my parents would never have expected me
0:22:27 > 0:22:33to come top of the form for sport, let alone marksmanship.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36And the last, certainly, they would not have expected me
0:22:36 > 0:22:38to come top of the form, was history.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42It seems to me that someone has been playing with the records.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49It had been ten years of hit after hit,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52and you would probably expect one of the wonderful characters
0:22:52 > 0:22:56from that period to rank as John's personal favourite,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00but for him, his best performance came over a decade later
0:23:00 > 0:23:03in the film Love And Death On Long Island.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09He played a loner who travels to America to meet a young actor
0:23:09 > 0:23:10he has become obsessed with.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15To John's annoyance, despite his best work
0:23:15 > 0:23:19and excellent reviews, the film was largely ignored.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24- What exactly are you trying to say, Giles?- (Please.)
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Look, Giles, I would like to believe all of things that you said
0:23:27 > 0:23:30about my career, but...
0:23:30 > 0:23:32you got things all wrong.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Ronnie, Ronnie, listen to me... You don't understand...
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Giles, I think I do understand, and... I have to go now...
0:23:42 > 0:23:44How can you act like this?
0:23:44 > 0:23:46When you know...
0:23:46 > 0:23:48you must know...
0:23:48 > 0:23:50how completely...
0:23:50 > 0:23:52how desperately...
0:23:54 > 0:23:55..I love you.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00'Well, I was upset that Love And Death,'
0:24:00 > 0:24:05that had been so well-received, worldwide, I mean,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08and in depth in terms of notices and so on,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12and certainly in terms of reportage,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16of people that had seen it and talked as I say, in depth about it.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20That it wasn't just a slight understanding of it...
0:24:20 > 0:24:22I was upset that it was not taken more seriously
0:24:22 > 0:24:24by the film establishment,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27such as the American Academy and the British Academy.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31Because it seemed to me that if you had something which was
0:24:31 > 0:24:35that well-received, on the one side, that it should certainly have caused
0:24:35 > 0:24:39a little bit more comment in terms of the establishments of film.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42- But why do you think that is? - I don't know, I have no idea.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Certainly, in my opinion, it's one of the best performances
0:24:47 > 0:24:50I've given on screen, and when you're talking about, you know,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54"Do you change?"... Well, I think, do you? You...
0:24:54 > 0:24:56How can I say it?
0:24:56 > 0:25:00You hone your performances to a degree and you begin to
0:25:00 > 0:25:04understand more about what a camera can do, and it's...
0:25:04 > 0:25:07To be able to use it, to be able to get you,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11to be able to take you into the privacy of a life...
0:25:11 > 0:25:16And it was a kind of lifetime's achievement, in a sense,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19in being able to pull that one off,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23and also in a script that I think was a brilliant adaptation.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Taken from...
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Gilbert Adair's book,
0:25:28 > 0:25:33a novella, which was written in the first person, which is known to
0:25:33 > 0:25:37be one of the most difficult things to translate into a screenplay.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40For obvious reasons, because you are dealing with the inside of
0:25:40 > 0:25:43somebody's head, how do you manage to do that?
0:25:43 > 0:25:45And also without a single word of dialogue.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48And Richard Kwietniowski, who both wrote and directed it...
0:25:48 > 0:25:52I mean, his adaptation was stunning, it was quite brilliant,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55it was one of the best pieces of writing in film I've ever seen.
0:25:55 > 0:26:02So, I mean, I was surprised that it was not... That having had...
0:26:02 > 0:26:07the acclaim that it had had through, you know,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Time magazine, and Newsweek and all of the big magazines,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15and the big papers and so on, with rave reviews,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18that it was not taken more seriously with the establishments.
0:26:18 > 0:26:19That's all.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Occasional disappointments like that
0:26:25 > 0:26:28couldn't dent John's love affair with acting.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31And he reached a whole new generation of admirers
0:26:31 > 0:26:35by appearing in three huge franchises.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38There was adventure with Indiana Jones,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43a spell as Ollivander the wand maker in Harry Potter,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46and an appointment with Doctor Who.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Playing an incarnation of the Doctor himself,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52it was an inspired piece of casting
0:26:52 > 0:26:55that left Whovians wishing it wasn't just
0:26:55 > 0:27:00one way of marking the programme's 50th anniversary.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02WHOOSH
0:27:02 > 0:27:04Anyone lose a fez?
0:27:06 > 0:27:07You.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10How can you be here? More to the point, why are you here?
0:27:10 > 0:27:17Good afternoon. I'm looking for the Doctor.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22- Well, you've certainly come to the right place.- Good, right.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Doctor Who provided confirmation, were it needed,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33that John had acquired national treasure status.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39And in July 2015, he became Sir John Hurt,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42knighted by the Queen for services to drama.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46I mean, I'm just very lucky, I like doing what I do,
0:27:46 > 0:27:47I just like acting.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49It's really as simple as that.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52I'm one of the most fortunate people in the world,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56that I've been allowed to do what I really, really love doing,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58and make a living from it.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Just a few weeks earlier,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04John revealed that he had been fighting a battle with cancer.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10He eventually lost that battle last month, aged 77.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Summing up the thousands of tributes perfectly
0:28:15 > 0:28:18were the words of his wife, Anwen, who said,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21"John was the most sublime of actors,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25"and the most gentlemanly of gentlemen,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27"with the greatest of hearts.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30"It will be a strange world without him."