William Hurt's takes his fourth shot at a second Oscar with History of Violence

For A History of Violence, William Hurt has been nominated for the Best Actor in Supporting role for portraying a gangster

23 February 2006
LOS ANGELES, USA

2006 Oscar nominee William Hurt has made a startling revelation – His 1985 Oscar Award was stolen.

Hurt, who bagged the Academy Award for the best actor in Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1985, said his Oscar vanished while he was shifting his residence in June , 2005.

"It got stolen, someone walked off with it," Hurt told reporters at the 25th Anniversary Oscar luncheon in Beverly Hills. The annual luncheon honours Oscar nominees.

Hurt has been nominated this year for the actor in a supporting role for his role in A History of violence.

Hurt, who has been nominated four times for Oscars, including this year's nomination, said he was trying to get the coveted statuette replaced.

Hurt's previous Oscar nominates include Kiss of Spider Woman (Best actor), Children Of a Lesser God (Best actor, 1986) and for the television-themed drama Broadcast News (1987, best actor). 

But it would be easier for Hurt to get back that statuette as he has fierce competition this year for the best supporting actor.

George Clooney for Syriana, Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain , Matt Dillon for Crash and Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man are his competitors for the 2006 Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar awards. 

A History of Violence is a crime thriller directed by David Cronenburg with the plot revolving around a mild-mannered man's past which comes to haunt him.

The film has pictured some brutal violence, nudity, drug use and everything which could be shocking. In A History of Violence, William Hurt plays the mobster Richie Cusack, who tracks down the man who vanished after betraying him years back .

The cast also include Viggo Mortensen, Mario Bello and Ed Harris. Josh Olsen has also been nominated for A History of Violence for the Best Adapted Screenplay. This is Olsen's first Oscar nomination.

The 55-year-old Hurt had a tumultuous childhood after his parents separated and his mother remarried a multimillionaire. Hurt, who could not adapt to his new-found affluence after that, sought solace in theatre, and that is how the actor in him was born. He made his debut as an actor in the film Altered States , released in1980, in which he played an obsessed scientist.

In the 1980s, he was a rage among thinking women, with a slew of brilliant performances in movies Children of a Lesser God (1986), Broadcast News (1987), and The Accidental Tourist (1988).