Rutger Oelsen Hauer 23 January 1944 19 July 2019 was a Dutch film actor He was well known for his roles in Flesh Blood Blind Fury Blade Runner The Hitcher Nighthawks Sin City Ladyhawke The Blood of Heroes and Batman Begins Hauer was born in Breukelen Netherlands to drama teachers Arend and Teunke and grew up in Amsterdam Since his parents were very occupied with their careers he and his three sisters one older two younger were raised mostly by nannies At the age of 15 Hauer ran off to sea and spent a year scrubbing decks aboard a freighter Returning home he worked as an electrician and a carpenter for three years while attending acting classes at night school He went on to join an experimental troupe with which he remained for five years before he was cast in the lead role in the very successful 1969 television series Floris a Dutch Ivanhoelike medieval action drama The role made him famous in his native country Hauers career changed course when director Paul Verhoeven cast him as the lead in Turkish Delight 1973 based on the Jan Wolkers book of the same name The movie found boxoffice favour abroad as well as at home and within two years its star was invited to make his Englishlanguage debut in the British film The Wilby Conspiracy 1975 Set in South Africa and starring Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier the film was an action melodrama with a focus on apartheid Hauers supporting role however was barely noticed in Hollywood and he returned to Dutch films for several years Hauer made his American debut in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Nighthawks 1981 cast as a psychopathic and coldblooded terrorist named Wolfgar after a character in the Old English poem Beowulf The following year he appeared in arguably his most famous and acclaimed role as the eccentric violent yet sympathetic replicant Roy Batty in Ridley Scotts 1982 scifi thriller Blade Runner Hauer was a dedicated environmentalist He fought for the release of Greenpeaces cofounder Paul Watson who was convicted in 1994 for sinking a Norwegian whaling vessel Hauer has also established an AIDS awareness foundation called the Rutger Hauer Starfish Foundation He married his second wife Ineke in 1985 they had been together since 1968 and he has one child actress Aysha Hauer who was born in 1966 and who made him a grandfather in 1988 In April 2007 he published his autobiography All Those Moments Stories of Heroes Villains Replicants and Blade Runners cowritten with Patrick Quinlan where he discussed many of his movie roles Proceeds of the book go to Hauers Starfish Foundation
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