Rutger Hauer Of ‘Blade Runner’ Dead At Age 75

Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, perhaps best known for playing the replicant renegade leader in the sci-fi classic “Blade Runner” opposite Harrison Ford, has died in the Netherlands after an undisclosed illness. He was 75.

Hauer died July 19. His family requested that the announcement not be made until after his services on Wednesday, his agent told outlets.

Hauer will be remembered partially for roles in vampire works such as “Dracula 3D” (2012),  the 2004 TV miniseries “Salem’s Lot,” the original “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” movie (1992) and the HBO series “True Blood” (2013-14).

He also had a turn as a corporate villain who knew Bruce Wayne’s father in “Batman Begins” (2005).

But it was his part as the murderous Roy Batty in “Blade Runner” that proved most memorable. In a famous scene with Ford’s Rick Deckard in the 1982 sci-fi noir, Batty spoke of “tears in rain.” It was an improvised line that at the time irritated the film’s screenwriter, David Webb Peoples.

Later, Peoples conceded to The Hollywood Reporter that it was a “beautiful contribution.”   

Hauer starred on Dutch television in the 1960s and made his major American film debut as a terrorist opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Nighthawks.”

Hauer, who also starred in the 1985 fantasy “Ladyhawke” and 1986′s “The Hitcher,” recently was a regular on the British comedy “Porters” (2017-19). IMDB listed an unfinished work: “A Christmas Carol” TV miniseries.

Hauer left behind his wife, Ineke ten Cate; and a daughter, actress Aysha Hauer, from a previous marriage, Variety noted.

Hollywood remembered the actor on social media.