Nearly four years after her ex-husband William Hurt’s death, three-time Tony-nominated actress Mary Beth Hurt died in an assisted living facility in Manhattan, New York City, on March 28, after a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 79.
Her husband, filmmaker-screenwriter Paul Schrader, and their two children, Molly and Sam, announced the death via Facebook. Variety derived the statement, a part of which read:
“She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend, and she took on all those roles with grace and kind ferocity. Although we’re all grieving, there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and reunited with her sisters in peace.”
Mary Beth Hurt was married to the actor-producer William Hurt from 1971 to 1982. They were separated for a long time before divorcing. During the separation, William had an affair with a ballet dancer named Sandra Jennings, which led to the birth of their son, Alexander.
The pair were together for over three years before William moved on and remarried Heidi Henderson in early 1989. That same year in June, Jennings sued him for failing to recognize their relationship as a common-law marriage.
Mary Beth Hurt testified at her ex-husband’s bigamist/ palimony non-jury trial.
More about William Hurt’s 1989 trial
While he was separated from Mary Beth Hurt (but not divorced), William Hurt began a live-in relationship with Sandra Jennings in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1981. NY does not recognize common-law marriages.
After their son was born and William’s divorce from Mary, he and Jennings lived in Beaufort, South Carolina, for four to five weeks during his filming of The Big Chill. SC is a state that recognizes non-ceremonial common-law marriages. The two never held a wedding ceremony and later went their separate ways in 1984.
However, Sandra later claimed in her lawsuit that the Kiss of the Spider Woman star told her that theirs was a “spiritual marriage” which should be legal as they spent a brief time in South Carolina. She also accused the father of her child of domestic abuse.
The former New York City Ballet member shared she was trying to “divorce” Hurt and demanded half of everything earned by him between December 1982 (approximately $10 millon) and 1984. Jennings also called Hurt a “bigamist” as he was already married to Henderson.
Meanwhile, William Hurt testified at his New York trial that he never considered Sandra Jennings his wife but rather his live-in domestic partner and the mother of his firstborn. He also claimed to have confessed to the ballerina that he no longer believed in marriages, as he suffered a great deal of “pain” after his union with Mary Beth Hurt didn’t “work out” and ended in a divorce.
As for Mary Beth Hurt, she testified at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan that during their September 1982 meeting, she asked her ex-husband to marry Sandra Jennings after their marriage ended, but he refused.
“I asked why he wanted to have the meeting. He said, ‘Sandy is having a baby.’ I asked if he was going to marry her. He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Marry her, Bill.’ He said, ‘No, I’m finished with marriage.’”
The Affliction actress also informed the court that William Hurt told her that the right thing to do was for them to “get a divorce.” She also responded with a “no” when Sandra’s lawyers asked her whether she was “embarrassed” that her estranged husband was having a child with someone else while they were “still married.”
In fact, Ms Beth Hurt clarified:
“Our marriage was over in 1978 [four years before the divorce was finalized].”
Not only that, she remarried Paul Schrader the following year and went on to have two children.
It is noteworthy that after a six-day deliberation, Justice Jacqueline Silbermann ruled in favor of William Hurt, claiming it was clear that he had no intention of ever marrying Sandra Jennings, and she was fully aware of it. However, the court asked him to continue paying $65,000/ year worth of child support.
Hurt and Henderson went on to have two children. He also had a child with French actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter Sandrine Bonnaire.
After his second marriage ended in 1993, William Hurt shared a two-year live-in relationship with actress Marlee Matlin. In fact, she accused him of physical violence, r*pe, and drug use in her 2009 memoir, I’ll Scream Later.
William denied the allegations and issued a statement claiming:
“My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we have both grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.”
A History of Violence actor was accused of domestic abuse by his former girlfriend, Donna Kaz, in a 2022 essay published on Variety in the aftermath of his demise. They were together from 1977 to 1980.
William Hurt died was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 2018 and died after a four-year-long battle at his home in Portland, Oregon. He was 71.
Edited by Pallavi K