Star of 1982’s Blade Runner, actor Rutger Hauer has passed away at the age of 75.
He died in Netherlands on Friday after a short illness, his agent confirmed.
The star acted as the murderous replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner, a movie directed by Ridley Scott and also starred Harrison Ford.
Hauer’s funeral was held on Wednesday.
His character gives a famous speech during a face-off with Ford at the end of Blade Runner, a dialogue which helped write himself.
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe,” he is seen telling Ford. “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.”
The star is quoted as telling an interviewer his character – who had only a four-year lifespan – wanted to “make his mark on existence”.
“The replicant in the final scene, by dying,” he said, “shows Deckard [Ford’s character] what a real man is made of.”
The actor was particularly well known for horror and vampire roles, starring as Van Helsing in Dracula 3D, and as the vampire Barlow in Salem’s lot – a 2004 mini series of the Stephen King novel.
Hauer was born 23 Jan 1944 in Breukelen, near Amsterdam in Netherlands.
He joined the Dutch merchant navy in his youth but returned to Amsterdam in 1962.
He briefly studied acting but then quit to join the army.
Hauer returned to acting and got his major break in the 1969 when he was cast in the title role of TV series Floris.
Acting in Blade Runner is by far his most famous role, but he continued acting right up until this year.
Hauer also acted in Sin City, Batman Begins and HBO series True Blood.
Filmmakers and fellow actors led tributes to Hauer on social media.
RIP the great Rutger Hauer: an intense, deep, genuine and magnetic actor that brought truth, power and beauty to his films. My personal favorites: Flesh + Blood, Eureka, The Hitcher, Blade Runner, Ladyhawke and Blind Fury. pic.twitter.com/1F2Via3mLY
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) July 24, 2019
Shape of Water director Guillermo del Toro said Hauer had brought “truth, power and beauty to his films”.
British producer and author Jonathan Sothcott hailed Hauer “as one of cinema’s finest villains” who “made rubbish watchable”.
Robert Patrick, who starred in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, posted: “I am so sad to hear this, Rutger was such a sweet human being, and amazing actor!”