Rutger Hauer

Background

Rutger Hauer was born in Breukelen, Netherlands, on January 23, 1944, to Arend Hauer and Teunke Mellema. He was raised in Amsterdam. Because his parents were so preoccupied with their work, he and his three sisters were primarily raised by nannies. Hauer ran away from home at the age of 15 and spent a year scrubbing the deck aboard a freighter. When he returned home, he worked as an electrician and carpenter for three years while taking acting classes at night. He then joined an experimental company for five years before landing the lead role in the hugely successful 1969 television series “Floris,” a Dutch Ivanhoe-style medieval action drama. The role made him renowned in his home country.

Hauer’s career took a turn for the better when director Paul Verhoeven cast him in the lead role in “Turkish Delight” (1973). The film was a box-office success both overseas and at home, and its actor was invited to make his English-language debut in the British film “The Wilby Conspiracy” in 1975. However, Hauer’s supporting performance went unnoticed in Hollywood, and he returned to Dutch films for several years. In the years that followed, he appeared in films and television shows such as “The Hitcher” (1986), “The Legend of the Holy Drinker” (1988), “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” (2003), “Goal II: Living the Dream” (2007), “The Rite” (2011), HBO’s “True Blood” (2013-2014), and “The Last Kingdom” (2015).

In 2016, he served on the film jury for ShortCutz Amsterdam, an annual film festival in Amsterdam that promotes short films. In the 2017 video game “Observer,” Hauer voiced the role of Daniel Lazarski. Hauer had two marriages. His first wife, Heidi Merz, bore him his only child, Aysha Hauer, who was born in 1966. He married his second wife, Ineke ten Cate, on November 22, 1985, in a private ceremony. He released his autobiography “All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants, and Blade Runners” in April 2007, in which he addresses many of his film roles. The book’s proceeds benefit his foundation.