NEW YORK (AP) — Mary Beth Hurt, a Tony Award-nominated actor who starred on Broadway in “Benefactors” with Glenn Close and reunited with Close for the movie “The World According to Garp,” has died. She was 79.
Hurt died Saturday in New Jersey after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2015, according to her daughter, Molly Schrader. Hurt was the wife of filmmaker Paul Schrader and appeared in his movies “Affliction” and “Light Sleeper.” He had moved into Hunt's senior-living facility in 2023 to stay close to her.
“She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend,” her daughter wrote in an Instagram post, saying Hurt took on those roles “with grace and a kind ferocity.”
“Although we’re grieving there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and is reunited with her sisters in peace,” she added.
The Iowa-born Hurt, who graduated from New York University's graduate theater studies program in 1969, earned three Tony nominations during her career, for performances in “Trelawny of the Wells” in 1975, “Crimes of the Heart” in 1981 and “Benefactors” in 1985. She was last on Broadway playing a nun in a revival of “The House of Blue Leaves” in 2011 with Ben Stiller and Edie Falco.
“I’ve never been extremely comfortable playing the lead,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2010. “I don’t like the responsibility; there’s a feeling that I have to be good. Besides, I found secondary parts much more interesting, especially when I was younger and the ingénue roles were pretty bland.”
Her movie credits include “Six Degrees of Separation” in 1993, “Chilly Scenes of Winter” in 1979, “The Age of Innocence” in 1993, “Autumn in New York” in 2000, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” in 2005, “The Dead Girl” in 2006, “Lady in the Water” also 2006 and “Young Adult” in 2011. She made her made her big-screen debut in Woody Allen's “Interiors” in 1978.
Hurt was married to late actor William Hurt from 1971 to 1982 and married Schrader in 1983. She is also survived by a son, Sam.
FILE - Mary Beth Hurt appears at the 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2019. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, FIle)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The U.S. military conducted a rapid response exercise involving Marines and military aircraft in Venezuela’s capital Saturday, over four months after the ouster of then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft, which have characteristics of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane, flew over the recently reopened U.S. Embassy in Caracas. They landed in the parking lot with the downdraft blowing tree branches. Forces then descended from the aircraft.
“Ensuring the military’s rapid response capability is a key component of mission readiness, both here in Venezuela and around the world,” the embassy said on Instagram.
Venezuela’s government had announced the drill earlier this week. Foreign Minister Yván Gil said the U.S. would conduct the exercise to prepare “in the event of medical emergencies or catastrophic emergencies.”
The drill comes almost two months after the U.S. formally reopened its embassy in Caracas. The reopening followed the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country after Maduro 's ouster in early January.
Some Caracas residents Saturday gathered near the embassy to watch the aircraft, while a few dozen others gathered elsewhere in the city to protest the exercise. Protesters held a Venezuelan flag with the message “No to the Yankee drill” written over it.
U.S. military aircraft last flew over Caracas on Jan. 3, when elite forces rappelled down from helicopters and captured Maduro and his wife. Both were taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges. They have pleaded not guilty.
U.S. Embassy holds emergency and air evacuation drill in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
U.S. Embassy holds emergency and air evacuation drill in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
U.S. Embassy holds emergency and air evacuation drill in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
A soldier looks down from a military aircraft as the U.S. Embassy holds an emergency and air evacuation drill in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
U.S. Embassy holds emergency and air evacuation drill in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
