Mary Beth Hurt, a veteran actress known for her roles in The World According to Garp and Woody Allen’s Interiors, died on March 28, 2026, at the age of 79 after fighting Alzheimer’s disease for 11 years. Her husband, Paul Schrader, who is an Oscar-nominated writer and director, and her daughter, Molly Schrader, confirmed her death at a memory-care facility in Jersey City, New Jersey, through social media.
Hurt’s first movie was Woody Allen’s 1978 drama Interiors, in which she played the emotionally complicated sister Joey. She was nominated for a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer. In 1982, she became more well-known for her role in The World According to Garp with Robin Williams. Later, she shone in Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1993).
Over the course of four decades, she appeared in 15 Broadway shows and was nominated for three Tonys, including one for her role as Meg in Crimes of the Heart (1981). She also won Obie and Clarence Derwent Awards. Hurt and Schrader worked together on movies like Light Sleeper (1992), Affliction (1997), The Walker (2007), and Adam Resurrected (2008).
Hurt was born Mary Supinger on September 26, 1946, in Marshalltown, Iowa. Jean Seberg, who would later become famous, used to babysit her. She was on the TV shows Tattinger’s (1988–1989) and Law & Order: SVU (2002).
