Kent Broadhurst, the character actor who appeared in films including The Verdict, Silkwood, and Silver Bullet, has passed away at the age of 86. He died on May 20 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, according to a paid obituary.
A Life of the Arts
Born in St. Louis on February 4, 1940, James Kent Broadhurst graduated from the University of Nebraska and headed to New York, where he began his career in the arts. He made his big-screen debut in Stuart Rosenberg's Brubaker (1980), starring Robert Redford, and went on to appear in notable films such as Sidney Lumet's The Verdict (1982), starring Paul Newman, and Mike Nichols' Silkwood (1983), starring Meryl Streep.
Broadhurst's theater work included revivals of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in 1983 and A Doll's House in 1997, and he wrote many plays, including They're Coming to Make It Brighter, Lemons, The Eye of the Beholder, and The Habitual Acceptance of the Near Enough. Some of his plays were showcased at the Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
A Renaissance Man
Kent Broadhurst was a painter who created over 2,000 canvases, some of which were exhibited at the Broadhurst Art Gallery at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, New York. Friends and colleagues described him as a Renaissance man, thoughtful, intellectually generous, and devoted to the arts in all their forms. His paid obituary notes, "Friends and colleagues often described him as a Renaissance man — thoughtful, intellectually generous and devoted to the arts in all their forms."
A Career in Horror Films
Broadhurst might be best known for playing the anguished father of the murdered best friend of Corey Haim's Marty Coslaw in the Stephen King-scripted horror film Silver Bullet (1985). In an interview for the DVD, he recalled the challenges of filming a scene where his character is taken to his dead son. "The prop department had presented [director Dan Attias] with the corpse of the boy that was just embarrassing, it was unusable," he said. "It looked like a window mannequin that had been smashed with a hammer and smeared with cranberry juice." He went on to work on another horror film, The Dark Half (1993), directed by George A. Romero.
A Screenwriter's Legacy
Broadhurst penned the screenplay for the 2001 Showtime telefilm Wild Iris, directed by Daniel Petrie. The film starred Laura Linney as a widow who lives with her son and mother in a home that doubles as a bridal shop. Linney received the Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or a movie, which was the first of her nine Emmy career nominations and first of her four wins.
A Legacy in the Arts
Kent Broadhurst's passing leaves a void in the arts community, where he was known for his dedication to his craft and his generosity of spirit. His work will continue to be celebrated and remembered by those who knew him and by audiences who have been touched by his performances.
Source: Hollywood Reporter