The husband of actress Mary Beth Hurt has broken his silence after her tragic death aged 79 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Paul Schrader had confirmed on Sunday that his wife had passed away at a Jersey City, New Jersey assisted living facility she had been residing in.
On Monday, the 79-year-old Oscar-nominated writer and director took to his Facebook to reflect on the loss of his beloved wife whom he married in 1983.
Schrader posted a photo of his father’s journal under a magnifying lens with the caption: ‘NOVEMBER 23, 1978. My father kept a meticulous and finely printed daily journal.
‘On Thanksgiving 1978 he wrote simply “Joan died 12:20 am.” Nothing more. Joan was his wife and my mother.
‘He was made of stern stuff. I’ve looked at this entry over the years and wondered how I’d feel in his place. Now I’m in that place.’
Actress Mary Beth Hurt (seen in New York back in May 2010) has died at the age of 79 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease and now her husband has reflected on his loss after over 40 years of marriage
Paul Schrader had confirmed on Sunday that his wife had passed away at a Jersey City, New Jersey assisted living facility she had been residing in (the pair are seen in May 2018)
Meanwhile Schrader and Hurt’s daughter Molly Schrader took to Instagram with a memorial for her late mother.
‘Yesterday morning we lost my mom, Mary Beth, to Alzheimer’s after a decade long battle with the disease,’ Molly Schrader said in an Instagram post Sunday. ‘She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend, and she took on all those [roles] with grace and a kind ferocity.
‘Although we’re grieving there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and is reunited with her sisters in peace.’
The post was accompanied by a black and white retro photo of the pair snapped by late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
Hurt had recently moved to the facility where she passed away. She had previously been residing at a separate assisted living home in Manhattan, with her spouse also living in the same building, sources told TMZ.
Hurt was a native of Marshalltown, Iowa, who honed her craft as an actress at the University of Iowa and later New York University.
Her first appearance on stage came in 1974 for an off-Broadway rendition of More Than You Deserve from Jim Steinman and Michael Weller.
Hurt went on to find great success on the stage, garnering a trio of Tony Award nominations in a decade-long span – for 1975’s Trelawny of the Wells; 1981’s Crimes of the Heart and 1985’s Benefactors.
On Monday evening, the 79-year-old Oscar-nominated writer and director took to his Facebook to reflect on the loss of his beloved wife whom he married in 1983
Among Hurt’s best known roles came in The World According to Garp, in which she acted opposite the late Robin Williams
Hurt’s best known cinema roles came in 1982’s The World According to Garp, 1979’s Chilly Scenes of Winter, and the 1978 Woody Allen movie Interiors, which also featured the late Diane Keaton.
Other movies Hurt was seen in, during her decades in front of the camera, included The Age of Innocence and Six Degrees of Separation, both in 1993; 2000’s Autumn in New York and 2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
In later years in her career, Hurt appeared in films such as 2000’s Autumn in New York, 2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose, 2006’s The Dead Girl, 2006’s Lady in the Water and 2011’s Young Adult.
She had also made consistent appearances on a number of prominent TV shows over multiple decades, having been on shows such as Law & Order; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Thirtysomething; and Saturday Night Live.
Mary Beth was married to late actor William Hurt from 1971 until 1982, before marrying Schrader in 1983. Hurt and the Oscar-nominated director shared daughter Molly, 42, and son Sam, 38.
She opened up about her penchant for supporting roles in a 2010 interview, according to THR.
‘I’ve never been extremely comfortable playing the lead,’ she said. ‘I don’t like the responsibility; there’s a feeling that I have to be good.
‘Besides, I found secondary parts much more interesting, especially when I was younger and the ingénue roles were pretty bland.’
(L-R) Mary Beth Hurt and Paul Schrader posed with actress Victoria Hill at the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 23, 2019 in Santa Monica, California
Mary Beth pictured in NYC in 1982, the year she and William Hurt parted ways in their marriage
Hurt said she felt supporting roles better suited her background and persona.
‘I never felt very beautiful, or incredibly smart or witty, so I was always looking for something about [roles] that intrigued me,’ Hurt said. ‘And I would sort of twist that character in a way because I remember thinking that an ingénue character doesn’t ever think they’re an ingénue.
‘They think they’re a person, and they have idiosyncrasies. Those idiosyncrasies interested me.’
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