turies of Storms at Sea and Shore. Athens: University
of Georgia Press, 2006. A history of more than
eighty hurricanes and tropical storms along the
Georgia-South Carolina seaboard from 1686.
Golden Joseph H., Riley M. Chung, and Earl J.
Baker.Hurricane Hugo: Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, and South Carolina—September 17-22, 1989.
Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1994.
Important coverage of Hugo’s impact from for-
mation to termination.
Moore, Jamie W., with Dorothy P. Moore.Island in
the Storm: Sullivan’s Island and Hurricane Hugo.
Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2006. A College of
Charleston history professor’s account of Hugo,
focusing on its social, economic, and environ-
mental effects.
Simon, Seymour.Hurricanes. New York: Harper-
Collins, 2003. Succinct, general introduction to
hurricanes.
Tait, Lawrence S., ed.Beaches: Lessons of Hurricane
Hugo. Tallahassee: Florida Shore & Beach Preser-
vation Association, 1990. Discusses the problem
of and possible solutions to beach erosion.
Trimnal, Katherine J.Photographer’s Notebook: Hurri-
cane Hugo, September 21-22, 1989. Limited ed.
Charleston, S.C.: n.p., 1991. Collection of photo-
graphs documenting the hurricane’s destruction.
U.S. Department of Agriculture.Hurricane Hugo:
South Carolina Forest Land Research and Manage-
ment Related to the Storm. Asheville, N.C.: Southern
Research Station, 1996. Hugo’s high winds de-
stroyed most of the mature trees in a swath from
the coast to north of Charlotte. This report evalu-
ates the impact of that loss.
William S. Brockington, Jr.
See also Doppler radar; El Niño; Environmental
movement; Natural disasters.
Hurt, William
Identification American actor
Born March 20, 1950; Washington, D.C.
Hurt became a major film star at the beginning of the de-
cade and continued doing challenging work, winning an
Academy Award.
After several years of stage and television work, Wil-
liam Hurt made his film debut in 1980 withAltered
States. Though Paddy Chayefsky’s psychological drama
was a critical and commercial failure, Hurt fared
better with his second film, the romantic thrillerEye-
witness(1981), as a janitor infatuated with a televi-
sion anchorwoman played by Sigourney Weaver,
with whom he had starred in the PBS seriesThe Best
of Families(1978).
Hurt became a full-fledged star with writer-director
Lawrence Kasdan’sBody Heat(1981), a very loose
remake ofDouble Indemnity(1944). Hurt played a
none-too-bright Florida lawyer tricked into killing
the wealthy husband of femme fatale Kathleen
Turner, in her film debut. The role was the first to
allow Hurt to display his unique blend of self-depre-
cating humor, vulnerability, and sex appeal.Body
Heatis generally considered one of the best film
noirs since the genre’s heyday in the late 1940’s and
early 1950’s.
Hurt’s most popular film of the decade was
Kasdan’sThe Big Chill(1983). As seven college friends
unite in the film to ponder their failures and disap-
pointments, Hurt stands out as the group’s most
philosophical member, a disillusioned, impotent
Vietnam War veteran. Though he would become
known for such intimate dramas, Hurt followedThe
Big Chillwith another thriller,Gorky Park(1983). In
this adaptation of Martin Cruz Smith’s best seller,
Hurt played a Moscow police inspector investigating
a complex triple murder.
After starring as a sleazy Hollywood casting direc-
tor in his first Broadway play, David Rabe’sHurlyburly
(1984), Hurt received the first of his three Academy
Award nominations of the 1980’s forKiss of the Spider
Woman(1985), adapted from Manuel Puig’s 1976
novel. As a homosexual sharing a South American
prison cell with a political prisoner (Raul Julia),
Hurt created one of his most sensitive portrayals and
won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was also
nominated for playing another sensitive character
inChildren of a Lesser God(1986), adapted from Mark
Medoff’s Broadway play. Hurt portrayed a teacher at
a school for the deaf who falls in love with one of his
students, played by Oscar winner Marlee Matlin,
who had a romance with Hurt in real life.
Hurt displayed his comic skills in James L.
Brooks’sBroadcast News(1987), earning another Os-
car nomination for his portrayal of a dim-witted tele-
vision anchor. He ended the decade by reuniting
with Kasdan and Turner forThe Accidental Tourist
(1988), an adaptation of Anne Tyler’s novel. HurtThe Eighties in America Hurt, William 497