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The Elephant Man

December 2022

  • Christopher Tucker working on John Hurt’s prosthetics for the film The Elephant Man, 1980. He was hired a week before shooting began

    Christopher Tucker obituary

    Makeup artist who created John Hurt’s prosthetics for The Elephant Man and Michael Crawford’s mask in The Phantom of the Opera

April 2021

  • Anthony Hopkins as Odin in Thor, with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.

    Ranked
    Anthony Hopkins’ 20 best film performances – ranked!

    Anthony Hopkins has been nominated for a Bafta and an Oscar for his role in The Father. But how does it compare with his performances as Hannibal Lecter, CS Lewis, Odin and an ageing Zorro?

March 2020

  • Freddie Jones and John Hurt

    The Elephant Man review – David Lynch's tragic tale of compassion

    Four decades on, John Hurt’s performance gives this biopic a poignancy that marks it apart from the rest of director’s work

July 2019

  • Emmerdale - 2011<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (3529989z) Emmerdale - Ep 6210 Thursday 12th April 2012 at 7pm Laurel Thomas [CHARLOTTE BELLAMY] is floored when Sandy Thomas [FREDDIE JONES] says he wants to go into full time care. She’s bewildered and concerned. Emmerdale - 2011

    Freddie Jones, film actor and Emmerdale's Sandy Thomas, dies age 91

    Much-loved performer and father of Toby Jones was stalwart of British TV as well as a regular in David Lynch films

September 2018

  • 'Actors don't black up, so why do they still crip up?' – video

    The actor Adam Pearson has a similar condition to Joseph Merrick, whose story was told in The Elephant Man. When the BBC was remaking the biopic, he did not even get an audition

July 2018

  • David Lynch.

    Room to Dream review – a remarkable insight into David Lynch

    This hybrid biography cuts between essays from Kristine McKenna and reflections from the great auteur

May 2018

  • Beauty call: Amy Schumer in I Feel Pretty.

    Amy Schumer and Hollywood’s ‘inner-beauty’ problem

    The comic’s new film I Feel Pretty follows the likes of Shallow Hal and Never Been Kissed in its ugly definitions of physical attraction

February 2017

  • FILE PHOTO: Hurt arrives at UK premiere of "Shooting Dogs" in London<br>FILE PHOTO: British actor John Hurt arrives at the U.K. premiere of "Shooting Dogs" in London March 30, 2006. The film goes on general release in U.K. on Friday. REUTERS/Stephen Hird/File photo FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

    John Hurt remembered at Oscars ceremony

    The late actor, star of Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Elephant Man, was honoured by the Academy in their annual In Memoriam montage

28 January 2017

  • John Hurt

    John Hurt, widely admired stage and screen actor, dies aged 77

    Distinctive-voiced actor was Oscar nominated for Midnight Express and the Elephant Man, as well as being the victim of the notorious ‘chestburster’ in Alien
  • John Hurt Actor 12 September 1999 12 September 1999 T32D29AC Allstar Picture Library

    Film blog
    Peter Bradshaw on John Hurt: 'A virtual folk memory of wisdom and style'

    In his staggeringly productive screen career, Hurt’s performances brought depth and texture to everything he was in, from science fiction to Roman epic
  • John Hurt in The Elephant Man.

    Film blog
    John Hurt: 10 key performances from Alien to Doctor Who

    John Hurt, who died on Friday, was a brilliant and versatile actor who made memorable film appearances over five decades. Here we look at ten of the best

December 2015

  • Alec Guinness as Lady Agatha D’Ascoyne in Kind Hearts and Coronets.

    Readers suggest the 10 best …
    Readers suggest the 10 best actor transformations

    Last week we brought you our 10 best transformations by actors in film. Here you suggest who should have made the list.

July 2014

  • John Hurt as The Elephant Man

    Five best moments
    John Hurt: five best moments

    Our pick of the actor’s greatest film performances to date. What others deserve to be on the list?

January 2014

  • Glenn Close

    Glenn Close to return to Broadway in a 'mountain of a play'

    Hollywood heads to the Great White Way, with Close appearing in an unnamed production, Bradley Cooper playing The Elephant Man and Hugh Jackman teaming up with Jez Butterworth

November 2013

  • Ripper Street

    Andrew Collins: telly addict
    Halloween TV review: Ripper Street, Dracula, American Horror Story ... and more - video

    Telly addict Andrew Collins reviews Ripper Street, Dracula and American Horror Story: Coven; plus non-horror-related The Escape Artist, Bates Motel and Veep

December 2009

  • The Elephant Man

    Reel history
    The Elephant Man: close to the memoirs but not the man

    David Lynch's 1980 film of the Victorian sideshow act turned celebrity is faithful to its source material but fails to get to the heart of the real Joseph Merrick

July 2008

  • 'How does a guy known for fart jokes make The Elephant Man?'

    Mel Brooks recalls how he persuaded director David Lynch to forgo his favourite hamburger joint in Los Angeles and film The Elephant Man in London's foggy East End

March 2006

  • 'I don't make plans at all. Plans are what make God laugh'

    From a beautifully demented Caligula to a mauve-quiffed Quentin Crisp and a disfigured Elephant Man, John Hurt's extraordinary talent has been to find the human truth at the heart of a character. Now, after four wives, late fatherhood and a lifetime of legendary carousing, is he finally happy in his own skin? By Barbara Ellen.

August 2004

  • I'm the Elephant Man

    At 58, Brian Cox has become Hollywood's busiest actor. He tells Leo Benedictus about his new legions of fans, what it's like to work with Woody Allen - and how he learned to watch his own films.

April 2000

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