Rutger Hauer supported environmentalist causes and was a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
38 Facts About Rutger Hauer
2.
Rutger Hauer founded the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association, an AIDS awareness organization.
3.
Rutger Hauer was made a knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2013.
4.
Rutger Hauer was born in Breukelen, in the Province of Utrecht, on 23 January 1944, while the Netherlands was under German occupation during World War II.
5.
Rutger Hauer did not have a close relationship with his father, and writer Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema later became a father figure to Hauer after they met during the filming of Soldier of Orange.
6.
Rutger Hauer attended a Rudolf Steiner school, as his parents wanted him to develop his creativity.
7.
Rutger Hauer spent a year travelling the world aboard a freighter, but was unable to become a captain due to his colourblindness.
8.
Rutger Hauer then entered the Academy for Theater and Dance in Amsterdam for acting classes, but soon dropped out to join the Royal Netherlands Army.
9.
Rutger Hauer received training as a combat medic, but left the service after a few months as he opposed the use of deadly weapons.
10.
Rutger Hauer subsequently returned to acting school and graduated in 1967.
11.
Rutger Hauer had his first acting role at the age of 11, as Eurysakes in the play Ajax.
12.
Rutger Hauer made his screen debut in 1969 when Paul Verhoeven cast him in the lead role of the television series Floris, a Dutch medieval action drama.
13.
The role made him famous in his native country, and Rutger Hauer reprised his role for the 1975 German remake Floris von Rosemund.
14.
Rutger Hauer's career changed course when Verhoeven cast him in Turkish Delight, which received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.
15.
The film found box office favour abroad and at home, and Rutger Hauer looked to appear in more international films.
16.
Rutger Hauer's supporting role was barely noticed in Hollywood, and he returned to Dutch films for several years.
17.
At the 1981 Netherlands Film Festival, Rutger Hauer received the Golden Calf for Best Actor for his overall body of work.
18.
Rutger Hauer made his American debut in the Sylvester Stallone film Nighthawks as a psychopathic and cold-blooded terrorist named Wulfgar.
19.
Rutger Hauer wrote some of the speech himself, the night before shooting, "cutting away swathes of the original script before adding the speech's poignant final line".
20.
Rutger Hauer appeared in The Hitcher, in which he played a mysterious hitchhiker tormenting a lone motorist and murdering anyone in his way.
21.
Rutger Hauer received the 1987 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the television film Escape from Sobibor.
22.
Also in 1987, Rutger Hauer starred as Nick Randall in Wanted: Dead or Alive as the descendant of the character played by Steve McQueen in the television series of the same name.
23.
Rutger Hauer was chosen to portray a blind martial artist superhero in Phillip Noyce's action film Blind Fury.
24.
Rutger Hauer initially struggled with the implausibility of the character, but learned to "unfocus my eyes, to react to smells and sounds" after meeting with blind judo practitioner Lynn Manning during his research for the role.
25.
Rutger Hauer returned to science fiction in 1989 with The Blood of Heroes, in which he played a gladiator in a post-apocalyptic world.
26.
Rutger Hauer appeared in the Kylie Minogue music video "On a Night Like This".
27.
Rutger Hauer hosted the British reality television documentary Shock Treatment in 2005, and featured in Goal II: Living the Dream as Real Madrid coach Rudi Van der Merwe.
28.
Rutger Hauer recorded voice-overs for the British advertising campaign for the Danish butter brand Lurpak.
29.
In 2008, Rutger Hauer received the Golden Calf Culture Prize for his contributions to Dutch cinema.
30.
Rutger Hauer played Freddie Heineken in The Heineken Kidnapping, for which he received the 2012 Rembrandt Award for Best Actor.
31.
Also in 2011, Rutger Hauer appeared in the supernatural horror film The Rite as an undertaker named Istvan, the protagonist's father.
32.
From 2013 to 2014, Rutger Hauer featured as Niall Brigant in HBO's True Blood.
33.
Rutger Hauer voiced the role of Daniel Lazarski in the 2017 video game Observer, set in post-apocalyptic Poland.
34.
Rutger Hauer provided the voice of Xehanort in the 2019 video game Kingdom Hearts III, replacing the late Leonard Nimoy and was himself replaced by Christopher Lloyd following his death.
35.
Rutger Hauer supported the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and was a member of its board of advisors.
36.
Rutger Hauer established an AIDS awareness organization called the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association.
37.
Rutger Hauer had been together with his second wife, Ineke ten Cate, since 1968, and they married in a private ceremony on 22 November 1985.
38.
Rutger Hauer died on 19 July 2019 at his home in Beetsterzwaag, following a short illness.