The Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, revealed by the science fiction film Blade Runner (1982), died at the age of 75, announced Wednesday Dutch media, citing members of his family.
"Rutger Hauer died at the age of 75. He was considered one of the biggest actors in the Netherlands," wrote the Dutch news agency ANP, adding that he died on Friday and was buried in a private ceremony.
Rutger Hauer made his first appearance as an actor in 1969 in a television series of cloak and sword called Floris , directed by Paul Verhoeven, then little known.
It was Verhoeven who gave him his first big role in Turkish Delight in 1973.
"I'm going to miss him," says Paul Verhoeven
But it was in 1981 that he attracted the attention of the world of cinema in the United States by playing alongside the American star Sylvester Stallone in the thriller Nighthawks . The following year was Blade Runner who was to consecrate him as one of the Hollywood stars at the time.
Commenting on the death of the man he had revealed, Paul Verhoeven told the ANP that he had lost his "alter ego". "I am extremely sad that he is no longer with us, he will be sorely missed".