John Hurt

The British actor, who died last week, became famous in the U.S. in the '70s for his starring role in the BBC series I, Claudius, and later appeared in the film Alien. Originally broadcast in 1989.

Hurt stars in the new film Scandal, about the Profumo sex scandal of the 1960s. He also portrayed Joseph Merrick in David Lynch's The Elephant Man. He joins Fresh Air to discuss how he fully inhabits his characters, and how his early life led him to acting.