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The searching man was a wandering boy. He spent his early childhood in the South Pacific, where his father was director of trust territories for the State Department. Bill attended Eastern prep schools, spent his senior year of college in England, then traveled to Australia and worked on a sheep farm. "I assisted in the birth of many sheep—they're really dumb animals, they'd come out feet first. But I found that doing what you want to do—and for me, for now, it's acting—is like those sheep giving birth: it's pulling your past up with love and pain. I've found something that I love doing, and the pain goes with it, and the pain is worth it. It says: 'See how good this feels? You ain't felt nothin' yet. C'mon, let's expose the wounds and see how far you can go.' That's where I want to go."
Hurt, who is divorced from Actress Mary Beth Hurt, rejected several substantial movie roles before making Altered States, and frequently returns "home" to Circle Rep. This summer he spent four weeks alternating the lead role in Romulus Linney's Childe Byron with a bit part in Jim Leonard Jr.'s The Diviners, and next March he is slated to play Richard II — a perfect role for this intense monarch of metaphors. "When I present a part on the stage, it is to make my life better. When that doesn't happen, I will stop."
Film work seems less central to his concerns and his demands. Asked about his grueling 18 months making Altered States, he replies: "Have you ever been beaten up on the street? Well, working on a film set is easier." But he lavishes praise on Larry Kasdan, who, like Marshall Mason, offers actors that precious directorial commodity: trust. After Altered States, Eyewitness and Body Heat, Hurt may be said to have mastered the craft. But he won't say it. "I respect what people have told me," he says. "If I make it to 40, 1 might be a good actor. With these three films, I think I've finally passed kindergarten in film acting — with honors, even. Now I want to see what first grade is like." — By Richard Corliss