The late William Hurt portrayed Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in The Incredible Hulk, The Consultant, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Black Widow.
Significant roles[]
- Walt McCandless in Into the Wild (2007)
- Stan in Syriana (2005)
- Richie Cusack in A History of Violence (2005) (Oscar Nominated)
- Leto Atreides I in Dune (2000)
- Rochester in Jane Eyre (1996)
- Prof. John Robinson in Lost in Space (1998)
- Harlan James in I Love You to Death (1990)
- Tom Grunick in Broadcast News (1987) (Oscar Nominated)
- James Leeds in Children of a Lesser God (1986) (Oscar Nominated)
- Luis Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) (Academy Award for Best Actor)
Quotes[]
- “I have a scene with Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr., It’s a funky scene.”
- “I don’t know how it’ll work, I know it’s weird [to work with a character from another movie], and to know it’s a device. We did something; I don’t know what that’s going to be like [to watch].”
- [About his scene with Robert Downey Jr.] "We improv’d that. The entire scene had no lines written down. We did improv for that entire scene. We actually both had more of a script because of that and a feeling of more invention because of that. So we could actually go, ‘okay, who do I think my character is…what would he say next. I haven’t a clue, let’s have a shot at it."
- "Ross is humiliated by Hulk's conscience: he actually sees and recognizes that it's more developed than his own, even though he's a patriot and a warrior for his country. He's sacrificed much for that purpose, but at the expense at times of his humanity — which he occasionally recovers."
- "Well first of all it was delightful to get that call. And second of all... how am I going to catch this train? Or how am I going to catch this 747? Because it can't land for you. It's got to keep going."
- "I loved playing Ross the first time because I was able to try and create an ego as big as the monster he was chasing. And one that was as warped too. This time he's different because it's a different style. It's a more modernized style. And what they've done is they've taken a character who was the Ross from the older film and made a new version. This is a much newer Ross. A much different Ross. And I liked that a lot. I haven't had a lot of time to understand it, but I'm doing the best I can. And they haven't fired me yet."
- "It's very very different from The Incredible Hulk, and the style is completely modernized. So, I'm not playing the graphic novel version of Thaddeus Ross. I'm playing... a better suit. I don't know, I wouldn't mind feeling like I had that much power, but I created Thaddeus originally as an ego the same size as the monsters. With the same degree of messed up-ness. Yeah, I'd love to have a shot at it?"