RIP Rutger Hauer (1944-2019)

Sad news today, friends: Rutger Hauer, best known for his work in such films as Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Robert Harmon's The Hitcher and to younger audiences as Niall Brigant on HBO's True Blood, has passed away at the age of 75. What a legend. What an extraordinary life. What a loss, for all of us.

Hauer got his start all the way back in the '60s, in the Netherlands, starring in a Paul Verhoeven TV series by the name of Floris, only to become a full-fledged star in that country in a Verhoeven feature: 1973's Turkish Delight, which was nominated for that year's Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. After starring in a number of other Verhoeven hits, Hauer made the leap to Hollywood, starring in 1981's Nighthawks opposite Sly Stallone, Richard Donner's Ladyhawke opposite Matthew Broderick, and the 1986 genre classic The Hitcher, one of that decade's best horror offerings. 

To most people, he's best known for his work in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, where he played Roy Batty, the android with a score to settle. That's about as iconic as one can get, but it was just the tip of the iceberg in Hauer's career, which also included performances in films from Christopher Nolan, Robert Rodriguez and Dario Argento. In recent years, Hauer headlined Jason Eisener's Hobo With a Shotgun and appeared in Observer, a cyber-punk video game from Bloober Team. The man kept very, very busy.

We at Birth.Movies.Death. are terribly saddened to learn of Hauer's passing. There'll never be another quite like him. Rest in peace.