I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.
All those moments will be lost in time,
like tears in rain.
Time to die.
~Roy Batty
Prolific actor Rutger Hauer has died at the age of 75. Hauer had a storied acting career and was one of the best. His career spanned six decades and over 170 projects. The roles he took were as beautifully varied as his talent and his performances were intricate, thoughtful and they always left an indelible mark. Hauer died in his home country of the Netherlands on July 19 after a short illness. His funeral was held on Wednesday, July 24.
One of Hauer’s most famous roles was as replicant Roy Batty in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). The movie wasn’t a hit at first but later gained cult status for the science fiction masterpiece that it was. His character Batty was the leader of a gang of violent replicants who were being hunted by Harrison Ford’s Deckard.
Hauer performed one of the most influential science fiction monologues of all time in the film. It came at his character Batty’s death. The night before the shoot, Hauer made some cuts and changes to the monologue without telling Scott. When it was filmed, there was no doubt that this would be the scene in the film. Hauer showed that underneath this violent replicant’s code, there were human characteristics. Batty’s short replicant life had mournful and beautiful memories and in the end, Hauer’s Batty made the viewer, and Deckard, question if he was more human than the humans.
His career was filled with iconic roles throughout including Navarre in the fantasy film Ladyhawke. A man who is in love with Isabeau of Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) but is separated from her by a curse. The curse turns Isabeau into a hawk by day and Navarre into a wolf by night. The lovers are doomed to be eternally apart. Another notable role was in the horror/suspense film The Hitcher. Rutger also appeared in True Blood as Niall Brigant, Sookie’s faerie grandfather. In 2011, he played the lead role in the incredibly bizarre, violent and campy Hobo with a Shot Gun. He continued to act until his short illness and according to IMDb, he was filming A Christmas Carol at the time of his death. He was playing the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Rutger Hauer was born in the Netherlands on January 23, 1944. According to Variety, “he is survived by his second wife of 50 years, Ineke ten Cate, and a daughter, actress Aysha Hauer, from his marriage to Heidi Merz”
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