Mary Beth Hurt, ‘Interiors’ and ‘The World According to Garp’ actor, dies at 79

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Mary Beth Hurt, a celebrated actress known for her roles in films like “Interiors,” “The World According to Garp,” and “The Age of Innocence,” has passed away at the age of 79. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her stage work.

Brenda Hurt passed away on Saturday after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter, Molly Schrader, shared on Instagram Sunday. Her husband, filmmaker Paul Schrader, who was nominated for an Oscar, confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that she died at an assisted living facility in Jersey City, New Jersey. She received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2015.

Molly Schrader shared that the woman was a loving actress, wife, sister, mother, aunt, and friend, and she approached each role with both elegance and strength. While they are deeply saddened by her loss, Schrader finds comfort in knowing she is now at peace and reunited with her sisters, free from suffering.

According to Playbill, Hurt first appeared on a New York stage in 1973 with an off-Broadway production of “As You Like It.” She then made her Broadway debut in 1974, with short runs in both “Love for Love” and “The Rules of the Game.” Throughout her career, she participated in a total of 15 Broadway productions.

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Alex Duong, a 42-year-old comedian and actor who was also a father, has passed away. He had worked for years to build his career, performing at places like the Comedy Store, and was finally starting to see success.

In a 1989 interview with the New York Times, June Hurt expressed satisfaction with her career overall, but noted that performing theater in New York didn’t offer much financial reward.

I was really struck by what she said recently. She admitted it’s incredibly difficult to build a sustainable career in theater, and she’s grateful for her own, but it’s a constant struggle. She doesn’t do musicals and doesn’t sing, which severely limits her options. Essentially, for her, Broadway is the only viable path to earning a living through acting. But even that feels precarious because there just aren’t enough non-musical, ‘straight’ plays being produced. She truly believes Broadway needs those kinds of plays – they offer a unique and important perspective that we can’t afford to lose.

June Hurt received her first Tony Award nomination in 1976 for playing Rose Trelawny in the play “Trelawny of the ‘Wells.’” She was nominated two more times, in 1982 for her performance in Beth Henley’s “Crimes of the Heart,” and again in 1986 for Michael Frayn’s “Benefactors.”

Geraldine Hurt began her film career in Woody Allen’s 1978 drama, “Interiors,” playing Joey, an aspiring artist struggling to find her way. She acted alongside Diane Keaton and Kristin Griffith, who played her more accomplished sisters, Renata and Flyn. Her work in the film received a BAFTA nomination.

Ellen Burstyn, known as Hurt, played Helen Holm in the 1982 film “The World According to Garp,” alongside Robin Williams. She also starred in Martin Scorsese’s 1993 film adaptation of “The Age of Innocence,” and in two films directed by her husband, Paul Schrader: “Light Sleeper” (1992) and “Affliction” (1997).

Mary Beth Supinger was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on September 25, 1946. She studied acting at the University of Iowa and later continued her education at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She married actor William Hurt in 1971 and became known as Mary Beth Hurt, but they divorced in 1982. She then married James L. Schrader, whom she met through a publicist, in 1983.

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William Hurt’s son confirmed Sunday that the actor died at age 71 of natural causes.

In a 2023 interview with the New Yorker, actor Michael Schrader credited his wife, Mary Beth, with helping him overcome past struggles with drugs and alcohol, which he’d publicly discussed dating back to the 1980s. After his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and moved to a care facility in 2019, Schrader brought her back home to their lake house during the pandemic. He had previously built her a greenhouse there, knowing how much she enjoyed gardening.

Growing up, William Hurt was sometimes babysat by Jean Seberg, a local from his hometown of Marshalltown who later became a famous actress. Seberg starred in well-known films like “Breathless” and “St. Joan” before her untimely death in 1979. Years later, Hurt voiced Seberg in the 1995 film “From the Journals of Jean Seberg.”

In 1989, David Hare, the director of “The Secret Rapture,” told the New York Times that she was a skilled team player in acting.

As a total film buff, I was reading an interview with director John Hare, and he was talking about Mary Beth Hurt. He really highlighted how she embodies the strengths of both British and American acting styles. He said British actors are incredibly technically skilled – they can do anything – and that skill actually frees them up to be more creative. He described them as being almost musical in their ability. But with Mary Beth, he added, it goes even further; she has this amazing ability to improvise and keep each performance feeling spontaneous and new. It’s a really insightful take on what makes her so special.

Hurt is survived by her husband and two children, Molly and Sam.

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2026-03-31 01:32