William McChord Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the
Juilliard School and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature
Altered States (1980), for which he received a
Golden Globe nomination for
New Star of the Year. He subsequently played a leading role, as a lawyer who succumbs to the temptations of
Kathleen Turner, in the
neo-noir Body Heat (1981).