Part One: The Early Years...

 
Rutger Hauer was born in Breukelen Holland in 1944. He had a good acting environment for his parents were actors and after they retired, they opened up an acting school. However, in 1959 Rutger lied about his age and signed aboard a cargo ship. However, because he was color blind, he was forced to leave sailing after one year. According to Hauer, he had lost interest in sailing. This
pattern of behavior went against what his parents wanted for him and in 1960 he traveled to Amsterdam and went to night school and enlisted in the acting school run by his parents. Because of constant truancies, Rutger's teacher
advised him that he had to have a stronger spirit and Rutger subsequently enlisted in the Army. Because of his strong physique, he scored well in physical activities like martial arts and various physical army practices, therefore he won the respect of his army peers and his drill sergeant thought that Rutger would become a fine officer in the army. However, Rutger's interests were not in an extended stay with the army. After five months, he quit the army
and went to the Swiss Alps to another acting school and did part time work as a stagehand. Because he did not have a typical childhood, one could think of him as a hyper child. 

Later, his interest turned more and more towards acting and after he reached the age of 20, he went to an acting school in Amsterdam for three years. After graduation, he entered another school called the ________ troupe for six years. He honed his acting skills and went to North Holland and performed for farmers. His favorite role was Lenny from John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men. He landed a part on a television drama and also played in a Dutch production of "Hair." Because of this, his popularity grew immensely. In 1969, he was the lead role in the Dutch TV Series "Floris" produced by Paul Verhoveren, who would later be Rutger's partner. His movie debut came in 1973 at the age of 29 years old in the Verhoveren movie, Turkish Delight. He played the part of sexually charged and rebellious youth Eric. Because the movie was uncensored in Holland, it brought in an estimated 3,300,000 people to see it and set a box-office record. 

In 1975, Rutger tried his mettle in a love romance called "Cancer Rising." This was a Dutch movie and he played an accountant who fell in love with a beautiful makeup artist. This movie was a switch from some Rutger's earlier roles in Turkish Delight and Dandelions in which Rutger played a gigolo-type, but in Cancer Rising Rutger's character was a faithful man. He also made his first trip to America to be in the Ralph Nelson movie "Cape Town(?) (also called Wilby Conspiracy). In 1975, he returned to Germany to star in "Cold Blood," which was a suspense movie. It is hard for us to imagine today's esteemed Rutger Hauer from these early movies as these are not considered to be good movies. However, the early movies were very important to Rutger's career because it allowed him to hone his acting skills that have come to be known as his trademark in today's market. He and Verhoveren later teamed up again and made the movie "Katie's Passion." 
 

Part Two: Nighthawks and Blade Runner...

Hauer said that, "To get to the US was my goal. The first movie offer he got after coming to the US was called "Sphinx" which came out in the 1980's and was released in Japan as well. (?) However, Hauer rejected that role to play opposite Sylvester Stallone in Nighthawks enabling him to become and international actor, but the salary he received from Nighthawks was half of the offer from "Sphinx." The first thing that he learned in the US was to believe in your own intuition, and this contributed to him taking the part of Nighthawks over the part in Sphinx. Hauer's part in Nighthawks was that of an international
terrorist who snuck into New York and were pursued by two New York City cops (Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams) who specialized in anti-terrorist sting-operations. In the movie, Rutger's character  (Wulfgar) had facial plastic surgery in the hopes that the authorities in New York would not recognize him. Rutger's performance was very shocking to the audience because of his shocking evilness to the extent of killing women and children. His portrayal of Wolfgar is widely believed to have been better than Stallone's interpretation of his character. Rutger's portrayal was wonderful in the extent of
showing a man's dignity and intelligence and cruelty and self-confidence as Wulfgar. However, Hauer said about that character, "Wulfgar is totally different from myself. I want to go to a club and dance." Another actor in the movie was Billy Dee Williams, of Star Wars fame, Lindsey Wagner, and -----? who played with him in "Cape Town" (Wilby Conspiracy).

The movie that Hauer played after Nighthawks was Chanel Solitaire" which was made with the cooperation of England and France. This movie was a biographical movie about the life of Chanel, who was an influence on the fashion society. Rutger's role was originally supposed to be played by Roger Daltry of "The Who" fame, but he passed over the role. Besides Hauer, Timothy Dalton and Karen Black also starred in the film. It began filming on location at the
French Riviera on Oct. 1, 1980. Hauer's role was "______" who was rich from real estate and was the first boyfriend of Chanel. Hauer's role met Chanel at a
dance party and he took her under his wing and supported her. The role of a bourgeoisie before the war fit Hauer well because he had the European looks and he could carry himself very well in such a part. The role emphasized his
ability to be a kind of "show off" to the camera. There was one scene in particular in which both Hauer and Timothy Dalton wore women's clothes. It was a scene that many found to be "bewitching" and was the subject of much
gossip by the public.

The movie "Blade Runner" was what pushed Rutger into the realm of stardom. Hauer's played the now legendary character of Roy Batty. Batty had an air of loneliness and sorrow about him, and an intense sex appeal at the same time he shows cruelty and evil. The movie was in the year 2019 in Los Angeles. People had immigrated to other planets because of air pollution and overpopulation. The rest of the people on Earth lived in giant skyscrapers.
Because of the development of genetic engineering, "human" slaves were built called Replicants. And were forced to work as miners in coal mine planets. However, four Replicants who were made closer to that of true human beings began to revolt against the slavery and we find that these four Replicants sneaked into Los Angeles by killing the crew of a space ship and landed on Earth. Blade Runner Rick Deckard was hired to find these Replicants and kill them. Deckard eventually tracks down Roy Batter (Hauer), the leader of the Replicant group. The director was Ridley Scott who was the best director to film
a visual science fiction movie (at that time). The movie cost 22 million dollars (52 million yen) to make the film. Filming began at the end of June in 1981 at Burbank Studios in Hollywood California. It took one year to complete the
implementation of special effects. In June 1982, Blade Runner was finally released. In the same year it was released in Paris and London and it became a worldwide hit. Rutger devote himself to gaining weight and working out in order to show Roy's perfect physique and physical ability. It was a combination of Rutger's physique and his acting portrayal that allowed for Roy to be seen with
the different emotions (as described above). Needless to say, these attributes were necessary to successfully carry off Batty's murder of his creator in the film. Also, when he saved Deckard a moment before he died, Hauer's character was dying while sitting in the falling rain. This scene became very famous in the annals of movie history. 

Hauer says, "Frankly, that role was very difficult for me. The director required me to play Roy in a Bruce Lee type of way, however, as I was creating the role, I found that it is more important to create the character by using the mind rather than putting an importance on changing one's physical shape." Rutger's portrayal of Roy Batty was highly acclaimed and People Magazine says, "Rutger's acting is worthy of attention because of his vividly strange
characters."