Mary Beth Hurt, the acclaimed stage and screen actress known for The Age of Innocence, Six Degrees of Separation, and The World According to Garp, has died at the age of 79 following a decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Her daughter, Molly Schrader — whom she shared with filmmaker Paul Schrader — announced the news on Instagram, writing:
“Yesterday morning we lost my mom, Mary Beth, to Alzheimer’s after a decade-long battle with the disease. She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend, and she took on all those roles with grace and a kind ferocity. Although we’re grieving, there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and is reunited with her sisters in peace.”
Hurt was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on September 25, 1946. As a young girl, actress Jean Seberg was even her babysitter. She went on to study acting at the University of Iowa and New York University, laying the foundation for a career that would span decades.
