Rutger Hauer, star of Blade Runner, dies aged 75

His website announced the news, saying that Hauer had died on Friday “after a very short illness… Rutger passed away peacefully at his Dutch home”.
 Born in 1944 in Breukelen, Hauer served a short stint as a medic in the army before finishing his training as an actor. Verhoeven cast him in his first significant screen role in the 1969 TV series Floris, before giving him a role in his 1973 feature Turkish Delight. After completing a number of films for Verhoeven, Hauer gained attention in Hollywood playing a brutal terrorist in the 1981 Sylvester Stallone picture Nighthawks. Blade Runner, though a commercial flop on its release, swiftly became a much-admired cult film, and Hauer became a fixture in both Hollywood and European cinema. The Hitcher, in 1986, was another attention-grabbing role, and the lyrical 1989 Italian drama The Legend of the Holy Drinker won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. continue