Rutger Hauer Biography

Actor Rutger Hauer was probably the most famous screen star from The Netherlands, known to movie fans as Roy Batty, the rogue chased by Harrison Ford in Blade Runner.

Hauer got his start with Amsterdam theater and then Dutch television, starring in the historical action series Floris (1969). That’s where he met film director Paul Verhoeven, who cast him in movies in the 1970s that made a splash in the U.S., including Soldier of Orange (1977) and Spetters (1980).

Dubbed “the Dutch Paul Newman,” Hollywood came calling and Hauer turned in a good performance in the crime thriller Nighthawks (1981, starring Sylvester Stallone).

His bright blue eyes and bleached hair in  1982’s Blade Runner made him a movie star – that and his portrayal of the film’s sympathetic villain.

During the 1980s he sometimes heated up the Hollywood box office, with films like Ladyhawke (1985) and The Hitcher (1986), but sometimes he stank up the joint, with duds like The Osterman Weekend (1983) and Flesh + Blood (1985, another film with Verhoeven).

Hauer had a long career as a strong and sturdy screen presence, and on TV he won over a new audience in 2000 with his appearance in The 10th Kingdom. He also joined the cast of True Blood in 2013 for its sixth season.

His other films include Sin City (2005), Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) and The Sisters Brothers (2018).