Ed Hurley

“And then I shot out Nadine’s eye…”

Screenshot of Everett McGill as Ed Hurley, from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.
© Lynch/Frost & Twin Peaks Productions.

Ed Hurley, owner of Big Ed’s Gas Station

Ed Hurley, “Big Ed” amongst friends, runs Twin Peaks’ gas station. He’s also a damn fine car mechanic who can take an engine apart and put it back together again in no time.

Ed Hurley is married to Nadine, a somewhat eccentric woman with an eye patch, and looks after his nephew James Hurley, Laura’s secret boyfriend.

When the death of Laura Palmer has been announced, James and Donna Hayward – Laura’s best friend – communicate by passing notes through Big Ed’s Gas Station.

Big Ed is a member of the Bookhouse Boys, a secret society formed to combat – what they call – the darkness and evil in Twin Peaks’ old woods. Other members are Sheriff Harry S Truman, deputy Hawk, James Hurley and Joey Paulson.

Ed Hurley figures someone selling drugs to high school kids is everyone’s jurisdiction and often serves as “unofficial deputy” to Sheriff Truman.

Ed on Pinterest

Ed Hurley’s story

Ed Hurley is having an affair with Norma Jennings

Ed Hurley is married to Nadine but is having a secret affair with Norma Jennings. They were high school sweethearts and during Norma’s husband’s incarceration Norma grew close to Ed again.

Norma Jennings and Ed Hurley had been together in High School for about four years. Everybody figured they’d get hitched. Ed barely knew Nadine to say hello to.

One bad weekend, Norma ran off with Hank Jennings. Ed got completely wasted. That same day he asked Nadine to marry him, half drunk, half joking, half crazy.

They had their honeymoon in his dad’s old cabin. Norma, who hadn’t even slept with Hank, was devastated when she learned that Ed and Nadine got married.

Nadine Hurley: Ed’s wife with the eye patch

Ed tried to talk Nadine into a divorce still during that honeymoon but hesitated because Nadine was so sweet.

After he accidentally shot out Nadine’s eye during a pheasant hunt, he felt obliged to stay with Nadine who never complained one word about the eye she lost. A couple of months later Norma got married with Hank Jennings.

Since Ed started seeing Norma in secret, his wife’s behaviour has become particularly bizarre. Nadine Hurley obsesses about 100% noiseless, completely silent drape runners, an invention to which Ed Hurley contributes when he spills scorched engine oil on one of Nadine’s drape runners that are all over the floor.

When Nadine hears from the patent attorney her proposal was rejected, she slips into a depression. With Nadine not well and driven by guilt, Ed hesitates to reveal he’s in love with Norma Jennings. One night Ed Hurley finds his wife on the floor after she has taken a whole bunch of pills.

After a coma Nadine awakes believing herself to be a teenager and just dating her husband. Dr Jacoby talks Ed Hurley into following his wife in her delusions, taking her out for milkshakes and enrolling for cheerleader try outs.

When Nadine starts dating Mike Nelson, Twin Peaks High School’s wrestling champ, Ed sees his chance to finally confront Nadine with his desire to marry Norma.

Ed Hurley accompanies Dale Cooper to One Eyed Jacks

Pretending to be oral surgeons, FBI agent Dale Cooper and Ed Hurley cross the Canadian border to infiltrate the brothel/casino One Eyed Jacks. They’re undercover and after Jacques Renault who’s targeted for drug trafficking and is a main suspect for the murder of Laura Palmer.

Though Ed Hurley loses a lot of the Bureau’s money playing the craps table, the operation is largely successful. Agent Cooper talks Jacques Renault into revealing what happened with the poker chip found in Laura Palmer’s stomach and lures Jacques to the American side of the border where cops are waiting to arrest him.

Ed Hurley – Quotes

“I sure know how to pick ‘m too.”

“I’m living my life, Norma. I just don’t like it much.”

“It’s not the first time, it won’t be the last, but I’m in that doghouse again.”

“Own a gas station. Hum, I’m on oral surgeon.”

“Well, I was hoping you might need a little gum work, because I’d sure like to get a look under your hood.”