Mary Beth Hurt (; September 26, 1946 â March 28, 2026) was an American actress of stage and screen. She was a three-time Tony Award-nominated actress, as well as a BAFTA Award and Independent Spirit Award nominee. Hurt was also the recipient of an Obie Award and a Clarence Derwent Award.
Notable films in which Hurt appears include Interiors (1978), The World According to Garp (1982), The Age of Innocence (1993), and Six Degrees of Separation (1993). She also collaborated with her husband, filmmaker Paul Schrader, in such films as Light Sleeper (1992) and Affliction (1997).
Mary Beth Hurt was born Mary Beth Supinger in Marshalltown, Iowa, on September 26, 1946, the daughter of Delores Lenore (née Andre) and Forrest Clayton Supinger. Her childhood babysitter was actress Jean Seberg, also a Marshalltown native. Hurt studied drama at the University of Iowa and at New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts.
Hurt made her New York stage debut in 1974. She was nominated for three Tony Awards for her Broadway performances in Trelawny of the Wells, Crimes of the Heart (for which she won an Obie Award), and Benefactors.
She made her film debut in Woody Allen's dramatic film Interiors (1978) as Joey, the second of three sisters dealing with the emotional fallout of a family's disintegration and their mother Eve (Geraldine Page)'s descent into mental illness. Hurt's powerful turn in that film earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles at the 32nd British Academy Film Awards. Her other film roles include Laura in Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979), Helen Holm Garp in The World According to Garp (1982), and Regina Beaufort in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993). Hurt also played Jean Seberg, in voiceover, in Mark Rappaport's 1995 documentary From the Journals of Jean Seberg.
Hurt was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female at the 22nd Independent Spirit Awards, for her performance in the 2006 movie The Dead Girl. For her role in Crimes of the Heart (1981) she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play and earned an Obie Award. In addition to these honors, Hurt also received a Clarence Derwent Award in 1975 for Best Supporting Female for her role in the Off-Broadway production of the play Love for Love.
Hurt was married to actor William Hurt from 1971 to 1982. She married filmmaker Paul Schrader in 1983; the couple had a daughter and a son. She was close friends with fellow actress Glenn Close, who had understudied her in the play Love for Love in 1974.
On February 11, 2023, Schrader wrote on his Facebook account that Hurt had been placed in memory care, a result of her advancing Alzheimer's disease.
Hurt died at an assisted-living facility in Jersey City, New Jersey, on March 28, 2026, at the age of 79.