Rutger Hauer
(Burns)

Rutger Oelsen Hauer was literally born to act. His parents operated and acted in a theater school in Amsterdam, the city where the fair-haired actor spent much of his youth. At age 15 Hauer hopped a Dutch Merchant Navy freighter and left home for nearly a year, traveling to exotic locales like Singapore and Pakistan. In 1973 Hauer starred in Turkish Delight, a film that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film in 1974. But it was his role playing opposite Sylvester Stallone in Nighthawks (1981) that introduced him to an eager American audience. Hauer's menacing performance in the cult classic The Hitcher in 1986 made him a favorite in American cinema.