Marlee Matlin recalls the fearful experience of receiving the 1987 Oscar from William Hurt.
A new documentary, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, premiered Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival, offering a candid look at the CODA star’s tumultuous relationship with the late actor William Hurt.
Hurt, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 71, shared both a professional and personal bond with Matlin when they starred together in the 1986 film Children of a Lesser God.
Matlin, then 19 years old, made her feature film debut opposite Hurt, who was 35 at the time. Their on-screen romance mirrored their real-life relationship, though Matlin has since opened up about the complexities of their time together.
In 1987, Matlin made history as the youngest actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Children of a Lesser God.
Hurt himself presented her with the Oscar, but Matlin reveals in the documentary that the moment was far from celebratory.
“I was afraid as I walked up the stairs to get the Oscar,” Matlin recalls in the film, per People. “I was afraid because I knew in my gut that he wasn’t happy. Because I saw the look on his face, and my thought was, ‘S–t!’”
After sharing a kiss with Hurt onstage, Matlin says she hesitated to take the award from him.
“I didn’t take the Oscar from him right away,” she explains. “I wish it were different. I wish I had shown my joy. But I was afraid because he was standing right there.”
This isn’t the first time Matlin has spoken out about Hurt’s behavior that night.
In Dave Karger’s 2024 book, 50 Oscar Nights, she revealed how dismissive Hurt was of her achievement. According to Matlin, he later said to her, “‘So you have that little man there next to you. What makes you think you deserve it?’”
She continued, “I looked at him like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said, ‘A lot of people work a long time, especially the ones you were nominated with, for a lot of years to get what you got with one film.’”
