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Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer dies aged 75

Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, best known for his role in science fiction classic Blade Runner, has died after a short illness at the age of 75, Dutch news agency ANP reports, citing his family. 

Hauer, whose funeral took place in the Netherlands on Wednesday, died ondied on July 19 after.

Appearing in 100 Dutch and international movies, he is best remembered for Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, in which he played the android, the adversary of Harrison Ford’s titular “blade runner”.

As well as winning a Golden Globe in 1988 for his role in Escape from Sobibor, Hauer’s notable roles included a terrorist in Nighthawks, Cardinal Roark in “Sin City” and an evil corporate executive in Batman Begins.,

He was also in the big-budget 1985 fantasy Ladyhawke, portrayed a menacing hitchhiker The Hitcher.

“I’m not very good at judging movie scripts,” he said in 1994, adding that the less budget a movie had, the more they were willing to pay him.

Hauer, who led a quiet life in the north of the Netherlands when not in Hollywood, used his money and fame to help children and pregnant women with HIV/Aids through his non-profit Starfish Association.

Early in his career, a Hollywood agent suggested Hauer change his name to something easier for the American public to learn. The actor declined, saying: “If you’re good enough, people will remember your name.”

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who made five movies and TV series with Hauer, said he had lost his “alter ego”.

“He was to me what Marcello Mastroianni was to Fellini. I have only good memories.”

Hauer leaves behind his wife of 50 years, Ineke ten Cate, and a daughter, actress Aysha Hauer, from a previous marriage.

-with AAP

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