ACTOR · BORN 1944 · DIED 2019
Rutger Hauer
- Born
- 23 January 1944
- Died
- 19 July 2019
35 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (35)
- #001
When Rutger Hauer first appeared on stage in the United States, he was advised to use a more English-sounding name to better attract American public attention. Assuming his career in the US would be short-lived anyway, he rejected the offer.
- #002
Rutger Hauer was offered the lead role in Das Boot (1981). He turned it down in favor of Blade Runner (1982).
- #003
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rutger Hauer became well known to the British mainstream through a series of Guinness commercials in which he dressed in black. He disliked drinking in public and had to spit after every drink. His appearance caused an increase in Guinness sales.
- #004
Rutger Hauer founded an AIDS research foundation called the Rutger Hauer Starfish Foundation.
- #005
Rutger Hauer spoke German fluently (more or less without an accent).
- #006
Director Richard Donner initially wanted to cast Rutger Hauer as the villain Marquet in Ladyhawke (1985), but Hauer turned the role down and expressed more interest in playing the film's hero, Etienne Navarre.
- #007
Before beginning a serious acting career, Rutger Hauer spent five years with a mime company.
- #008
Rutger Hauer enjoyed riding motorcycles. During a break in the shooting of The Blood of Heroes (1989), he went for a ride and then got lost in the Australian desert. It was by luck that he found his way out on his own.
- #009
Before Peter Weller was cast, Rutger Hauer was Paul Verhoeven's first choice to play RoboCop (1987).
- #010
In 1995, the Dutch postal service issued a stamp featuring Rutger, taken from a scene in Turkish Delight (1973).
- #011
Rutger Hauer did his own stunt driving in The Hitcher (1986).
- #012
In the 1980s, Rutger Hauer designed trucks as a hobby.
- #013
Rutger Hauer had a tattoo on each shoulder: on his right shoulder, one for his wife Ineke Ten Cate, whom he married in 1985 (after a 16-year relationship) and to whom he remained married until his death; the other was for Marius, the closest friend of Ineke Ten Cate's brother, who died of Hodgkin lymphoma in 1980. He explained it, "It's a way of saying 'You're under my skin.'".
- #014
Rutger Hauer gave master classes in filmmaking to students, new actors and filmmakers. This took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He had been doing this for several years.
- #015
Rutger Hauer made one series and five films directed by Paul Verhoeven. However, they had a disagreement on their last joint effort, the very troubled Flesh+Blood (1985), and the two never worked together again.
- #016
Rutger Hauer died in 2019, the year in which Blade Runner (1982) is set.
- #017
Rutger Hauer's wife Ineke ten Kate, whom he married in 1985, was a painter and sculptor.
- #018
Rutger Hauer was considered for the role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon (1987), but the role went to Mel Gibson.
- #019
According to an interview Rutger Hauer gave when Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) was first released, he was Anne Rice's original vision for Lestat when she wrote the book. Despite widespread rumors that Julian Sands was her first choice, Sands had not even begun appearing in films or on television until 1982, so Rice could not have known of him when she wrote the book in 1976; Rutger had been acting since 1968. Rice may have said during the film's casting that Sands would be great for the role, because while the film was being made she said Hauer was too old to play Lestat.
- #020
Rutger Hauer was the former father-in-law of his Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) co-star Thomas Jane.
- #021
Rutger Hauer once named his five favorite films as Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Apocalypse Now (1979), Wings of Desire (1987), GasLand (2010) and Position Among the Stars (2010).
- #022
Hauer was an environmentalist. In 1994 he fought for the premiere of Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson, who had been convicted of sinking an illegal Norwegian whaling ship. According to the official Rutger Hauer website, the ship was sunk in 1992 to protest Norway's announcement of its intention to return to commercial whaling in violation of the International Whaling Commission's global whaling ban.
- #023
He founded the I've Seen Films International Film Festival.
- #024
In 1988 Fred DeBoer gave him a Friesian horse for his work promoting the breed in Ladyhawke (1985).
- #025
He appeared alongside Donald Sutherland in two vampire films: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and Salem's Lot (2004).
- #026
He played Dracula in Dracula III: Legacy (2005) and Dracula's arch-enemy Van Helsing in Dracula 3D (2012), in which Thomas Kretschmann played Dracula. Ironically, Kretschmann went on to play Van Helsing a year later in the television series Dracula (2013).
- #027
During the initial release of The Hitcher (1986), he stated that he would not seek out villain roles. In 1986 the Spokane, Washington periodical The Spokesman Review ran the headline "He plays villains without a 'Hitch'". He was worried about being typecast.
- #028
His parents, Teunke Hauer and Arend Hauer, ran an acting school in Amsterdam.
- #029
Although he appeared in Guinness commercials, he never drank alcohol because he was very sensitive to it.
- #030
He turned down a role in Paul Verhoeven's Black Book (2006).
- #031
In 2016 Hauer joined the film jury of ShortCutz Amsterdam, an annual film festival showcasing short films in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Dutch jury members included Roel Reiné, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Vincent van Ommen, Pieter Kuijpers and Tygo Gernandt.
- #032
In 1988 he served as Grand Marshall at the Spring Breed Classic USET Benefit Show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Participants included Fred DeBoer and Family with Friesian horses, and John Koster and Family with Friesian horses.
- #033
In Salem's Lot (2004) he played a vampire named Kurt Barlow, and in the television series True Blood (2008) he played a fairy named Niall Brigant.
- #034
He was considered for the role of Dr. Bukovsky in Lifeforce (1985).
- #035
Both his first and last names end with the letters "er". He appeared in 13 films or television series whose title or alternative title ends in "er" or "ers". He played 8 characters whose names end in "er".
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