Mary Beth Hurt, the Tony Award-nominated actress whose film and stage career spanned five decades, has died at the age of 79 after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Her daughter Molly Schrader confirmed the news on Instagram on Sunday, saying her mother passed away on Saturday at an assisted living facility in Jersey City, New Jersey.
“Yesterday morning we lost my mother, Mary Beth, to Alzheimer’s after a decade-long battle with the disease,” she wrote alongside a photo of herself as a baby with her mother.
“She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend, and she took on all of those roles with grace and a gentle ferocity. Although we grieve, we take comfort in knowing that she is no longer suffering and has been reunited with her sisters in peace.”
Her husband, Oscar-nominated writer and director Paul Schrader, also confirmed her death to hollywood reporter.
Hurt was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2015 and had been living in a Manhattan facility until recently, when he moved to an assisted living home in Jersey City, where he spent his final days.
Hurt built a distinguished career in film, television and theater.
On screen, he appeared in Woody Allen. Interiors in 1978, and worked with Martin Scorsese on both The age of innocence in 1993 and Bringing out the dead in 1999.
She also collaborated with her husband Schrader on several projects, including Light sleeper in 1992 and Affliction in 1997.
On Broadway, he earned three Tony Award nominations for his performances in Trelawny of the Wells, Crimes of the heart and Benefactorscementing her reputation as one of the most respected theater artists of her generation.
He also made television appearances on Law and order and kojak.
Hurt was previously married to actor William Hurt from 1971 to 1982.
She married Schrader in 1983 and the couple had two children together, Molly and her son Sam.
