Bafta-award winning Sir John Hurt was not worried about dying even in the face of cancer.

The actor, who has died at the age of 77, spoke openly about his battle with the killer disease last year, where he admitted that he didn't fear death.

The Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy actor spoke to the Radio Times about his treatment and had felt positive about the treatment that he had been receiving.

“I can't say I worry about mortality, but it's impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it,” Hurt said.

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“We're all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly. But my treatment is going terrifically well, so I'm optimistic.”

The Oscar-nominated actor, who starred in movies such as Harry Potter, The Elephant Man and V for Vendetta, has been filming Darkest Hour, according to IMDB, and has several in post-production.

In recent years, Hurt lamented society's apparently 'obsession' with concerns around alcohol. As he promoted his role as Jeffrey Bernard for BBC Radio 4.

“Society is much more homogenised, and we're all supposed to conform,” Hurt said.

“People are censorious but the pendulum will swing back, as it always does. There were difficulties in those days obviously, but life was more fun.

”We've become obsessed with the dangers of alcohol – you get newspaper articles that are entirely over the top. There's political correctness as well. I wonder what instigated that. Where does it come from, and who says what is or is not politically correct? And as for the way you have to treat women these days..”

The actor said that his peers were the ones who were “creative” and encouraged that.

“Our present-day, moralistic thinkers assume everyone was rolling around drunk, but that wasn't the case,” Hurt said.

“I had endless conversations with Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Jeff and others. People go out today with the intention of getting smashed. We never had that intention, although it might happen. We hated binge drinkers.

"They were boring and if you slipped into it, you'd be told to pull yourself together. We wanted to seek, to find, to be interested, heighten awareness, talk.”