Oscar-winning actor William Damage — whose basic attractiveness and erudite persona made him probably the most recognizable male leads within the Eighties — died Sunday, his household stated.
Damage, who starred in hit flicks from “The Large Chill’’ to “Broadcast Information’’ and “Youngsters of a Lesser God,’’ was 71.
The actor suffered from prostate most cancers that unfold to the bone in 2018.
“It’s with nice disappointment that the Damage household mourns the passing of William Damage, beloved father and Oscar profitable actor, on March 13, 2022, one week earlier than his 72nd birthday,’’ the actor’s son William stated in an announcement.
“He died peacefully, amongst household, of pure causes. The household requests privateness at the moment.”
Within the Eighties, the good-looking lanky blond star was nominated three years in a row for an Academy Award for greatest actor. He gained the coveted trophy in 1985 for his position as a homosexual convict sharing the identical cell as a political prisoner in South America in “Kiss of the Spider Girl.”
The one different actors to have three consecutive Greatest Actor nods are Paul Muni, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Russell Crowe, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Damage revived his profession and was nominated for an Academy Award for Greatest Supporting Actor for his position as Richie Cusack in David Cronenberg’s 2005 movie “A Historical past of Violence,” regardless of solely showing for a couple of minutes of display time.
In 2009, Damage was nominated for an Emmy award for taking part in scientist Daniel Purcell on the second season of FX’s “Damages,” and acquired one other nomination two years later for portraying former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Curtis Hanson‘s HBO telefilm “Too Large to Fail.”
He additionally was well-known for his roles in films akin to “Physique Warmth” and “Gorky Park.’’
Extra lately, Damage appeared as Marvel Comics character Common Thaddeus Ross in “The Unbelievable Hulk,” “Captain America: Civil Conflict,” “Avengers: Infinity Conflict,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Widow.”
Born in Washington, DC, Damage attended Tufts College and finally the Juilliard College. His first massive position was in Ken Russell’s “Altered States.”
Damage lamented to Folks journal in 1985 that he was “a personality actor in a leading-man’s physique.”
He additionally resented the highlight that he was thrust in away from the digital camera, telling the New York Instances in 1989 that he felt his privateness was not being revered.
“It’s not proper that my privateness is invaded to the extent that it’s,” Damage stated on the time. “I’m a really personal man, and I’ve the proper to be. I by no means stated that as a result of I used to be an actor you’ll be able to have my privateness, you’ll be able to steal my soul. You possibly can’t.”
The late movie critic Roger Ebert wrote about Damage in 1988 after the discharge of “The Unintended Vacationer,” calling the actor on the time “one of many two or three greatest actors in American films.”
“To virtually all of his roles, he brings alongside a way of the strange, the sense that that is merely an individual who occurs to search out himself on this place at the moment,” Ebert stated. “That nearly bland exterior within the opening scenes is what units up the later emotional explosions, particularly in films like Altered States and Physique Warmth.
“When Damage goes excessive, he seems to have began from a quieter place, and so he appears to have traveled a larger distance than a Mickey Rourke or a Robert De Niro. Solely Jack Nicholson is his equal at seeming totally strange.”
Fellow actors took to social media on Sunday to recollect Damage’s storied profession, together with “Broadcast Information” co-star Albert Brooks.
“R.I.P. William Damage. So unhappy to listen to this information,” Brooks wrote on Twitter Sunday. “Working with him on Broadcast Information was superb. He will probably be vastly missed.”
“Wow, one other Main loss to the appearing neighborhood. Nice actor. Nice thoughts. RIP,” Mark Ruffalo said.
“Saddened to listen to of the passing of actor William Damage,” tweeted Star Trek star George Takei. “He broke the mildew in his Oscar-winning position in Kiss of the Spider Girl, broke smiles in Broadcast Information, and broke our hearts in The Unintended Vacationer. An incredible loss to the world. Relaxation among the many stars now, good sir.”
Director M. Night time Shaymalan, who labored with Damage on his movie “The Village,” said Damage was “a grasp of his appearing craft. Each take was new and revealing”
