I have just learned of the death, five days ago, of Dutch actor Rutger Hauer. He is famous for portraying the character of Roy Batty in Blade Runner and Etienne Navarre in Ladyhawke, but is also remembered for classics like Soldier of Orange, The Osterman Weekend, The Blood of Heroes, Flesh + Blood and The Hitcher.
A former combat medic with the Dutch Army, he had founded the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association, an AIDS awareness organization.
He was 75. He will be sorely missed.
Karavansara 
24 July 2019 at 19:39
He was awesome in Blade Runner. Talented guy, may be RIP.
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25 July 2019 at 12:10
Apparently not a nice guy, but a great actor.
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25 July 2019 at 12:19
I don’t know about the nice guy thing – as I mentioned, I knew him for his charity work and his social and environmental activism.
But maybe I missed something (it’s likely).
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26 July 2019 at 16:31
I always liked his role in ‘Blind Fury’ (no comments from the Peanut Gallery please). His take on Zatoichi was great.
And now for a quick story.
A friend of mine used to work for Amtrak (the U.S. Railway system) as a Redcap. As a result he was always meeting politicians, media personalities, actors, etc. So one day (about 10 years or more ago) he’s at work and walking through Penn Station in Manhattan, heading for the locker room. He see’s some guy acting kind of suspiciously so he walks over to take a look. Turns out to be Rutger Hauer trying to sneak a smoke behind a stairway. My friend takes him over to an employees only area that’s out of sight and they both start smoking.
After chatting about some of his movies my friend tells him he really didn’t need to have worried about getting a ticket from the Amtrak Police because he (Hauer) was a celebrity and they would have let him slide. Hauer looks at my friend and says “I wasn’t worried about getting a ticket. I was supposed to have quit smoking a month ago and if my agent catches me she’ll beat me to death”.
So endeth my one and only Rutger Hauer story. May he rest In Peace.
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26 July 2019 at 19:00
Great story, thanks for sharing.
And I like Blind Fury too.
The alligator scene is still stuck in my mind.
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