Remember his Name; Dutch actor Rutger Hauer dies aged 75, Hauer passed away after a short illness, he will always be known for being Roy Batty in Blade Runner, but his list of films was extensive, including the 1987, Escape From Sobibor which he won an Emmy for best supporting actor, a great actor lost to the world

Dear All

One of the best known European actors has died.

Blade Runner actor Rutger Hauer has passed away at the aged 75.

He will always be remembered for his role of Roy Batty in the sci-fi epic which made him into a sensation. For me the best film which I enjoyed seeing him in was the 1986 movie, The Hitcher. In this movie, Rutger played a seemingly suicidal and homicidal maniac and C. Thomas Howell as his primary victim. Although this movie didn’t do as well as it should, it was a great horror movie played well.

The scene in the diner between Rutger and C. Thomas Howell as the younger man threatened to shot him and his response was classic Hauer. The cast also featured the rather talented actor Jennifer Jason Leigh playing a waitress who comes to the aid of C. Thomas Howell. Her death was pure Hitchcock, tied to a truck tractor unit and trailer and pulled apart, off screen.

Another movie, a favourite of mine was the film he done in 1987, with Alan Arkin, Escape from Sobibor, a tale of the biggest mass escape from the Nazi death in Eastern Poland. In this movie, he played a Russian soldier caught by the Germans and sent to Sobibor to do hard manual work.  

This movie was a British television film, however it had a great supporting cast of talent. One of the actors who delivered a powerful performance was  Hartmut Becker, the German actor who was born in Berlin. His scenes as SS-Hauptscharführer Gustav Wagner spreading fear and killing without conscience elevated this movie considerably.

Escape from Sobibor won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Hauer in his role in the gritty drama which is worth seeing.

One film which also might make your list was the Sly Stallone movie Nighthawks, where Rutger Hauer played a terrorist operating in New York.

Director Guillermo Del Toro tweeted:

"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."

Rutger Hauer had an impressive list of screen credits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutger_Hauer_filmography

Surviving the Game in 1994 was another good movie for him alongside ICE-T and Charles S Dutton. The movie also stars Gary Busey who plays a total fruitcake who just loves killing people. As Doc Hawkins, a CIA psychologist and the founder of the hunting team when he gets bumped off, you know he deserved it. It is a film with both humour and horror. The scene near the end when Hauer dons a disguise as a Priest to escape and meets an old lady begging for money is a hoot.

Hauer did some great movies, real blockbusters, but also he did some lesser movies on the cheap such as Salute of the Juggler aka Blood of Heroes. One of the real turkeys he did was a film called Omega Doom which was truly awful. In life you sometimes pick the wrong thing to be in and certainly Omega Doom was one of them.

Finally, Rutger Hauer was a big talent who worked continuously through-out his career, he deserves the recognition as a superstar.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University