Rutger Hauer, Of 'Blade Runner' And So Much More, Dead At 75

Rutger Hauer, one of those one-of-a-kind actors who was always worth watching, no matter what he was starring in, has died. Hauer, perhaps most famous for his work as Roy Batty in Blade Runner, died on July 19 after a short illness. His funeral was held today. Hauer most recently appeared in the underseen 2018 Western The Sisters Brothers.Variety is reporting that Rutger Hauer has died. The Dutch actor's long, eclectic career began in the 1960s when he joined an experimental theatre troupe. In 1969, RoboCop director Paul Verhoeven cast him in the Dutch TV series Floris. Hauer made his American acting debut in 1981 as the villain in the gritty Sylvester Stallone crime drama Nighthawks. But it was incredible performance as replicant Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's 1982 Blade Runner that helped launch him to wider fame. Scott cast Hauer without ever having met him, based solely on the actor's work with Verhoven. The famous "tears in the rain" monologue Batty delivers while dying at the end of the film was co-written by Hauer – the line "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain" was specifically added by Hauer.

Hauer's other notable work in the '80s includes the fantasy film Ladyhawke (1985), and the cult classic horror road film The Hitcher (1986). Hauer was also set to reunite with Verhoven to star in RoboCop, but lost the part to Peter Weller. Hauer continued to work steadily, often appearing in less-than-great films, but almost always turning in a memorable, scene-stealing performance.

In the early 2000s, the actor began to experience something of a mainstream resurgence. In 2002, he appeared in George Clooney's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind as a weary assassin. In 2005, he played a villainous clergyman in Sin City. That same year, he had a supporting role in Batman Begins. In 2011, Hauer got to play a lead role for a change in the Grindhouse-inspired Hobo With a Shotgun (he played the hobo, obviously).

"Good guy or bad guy, hero or anti hero; doesn't matter to me, what role I play, only the character have something magical," Hauer once said, and it's hard to argue with him on that.