Sir John Hurt, whose film credits include The Naked Civil Servant, The Elephant Man and the Harry Potter films, has disclosed he has cancer but is “more than optimistic” about his future.
The 75-year-old actor, who intends to keep on working, said: “I have always been open about the way in which I conduct my life and in that spirit I would like to make a statement.
“I have recently been diagnosed with early-stage pancreatic cancer. I am undergoing treatment and am more than optimistic about a satisfactory outcome, as indeed is the medical team”.
“I am continuing to focus on my professional commitments and will shortly be recording Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (one of life’s small ironies) for BBC Radio 4”.
Hurt, nominated for two Oscars for his starring roles in The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, has recently been filming The History of Love with Gemma Arterton and Sir Derek Jacobi and the new Tarzan, with Samuel L Jackson and Margot Robbie.
Knighted for services to drama last year, he enjoyed a big hit with the sci-fi horror film Alien in 1979.
Among his more notable roles he played Caligula in the BBC drama I, Claudius, wand merchant Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter films, and Stephen Ward, a key figure in the Profumo affair, in Scandal. In 2009, he reprised his Naked Civil Servant role of Quentin Crisp in an Englishman in New York.
Hurt’s distinctive voice has been used several times as narrator and accompanied a chilling Aids awareness advertising campaign in the 1980s. After going to art college, Hurt studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he landed a scholarship.