Kris Kristofferson, the country singer who skillfully balanced a prolific acting career alongside his Music, has died at the age of 88.
Kristofferson’s family confirmed his death Sunday evening, saying he “passed away peacefully” at his home on Saturday. “We are all very lucky to spend time with him,” read the statement, signed by his wife Lisa, his eight children and his seven grandchildren. “Thank you for loving him all these years, and when you see a rainbow, know that he smiles on all of us.” »
Admired for the courage, emotional vulnerability, and literary flair of his country compositions, Kristofferson frequently topped the U.S. country charts, and covers of his songs were hits for artists such as Janis Joplin, Gladys Knight, and Johnny Cash. In the mid-’70s, he worked with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Sam Peckinpah, and won a Golden Globe for his work alongside Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake of A Star is Born.
Born in Texas in 1936, Kristofferson attended high school in California and initially wanted to become a novelist, then studied literature at Pomona College in Southern California and at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Inspired by the burgeoning rock’n’roll scene, his first foray into music was in the UK under the name Kris Carson, although the songs he recorded were never released.
He continued playing music during his time in the U.S. Army, where he became a helicopter pilot, a skill he continued (in the oil industry and in the National Guard) after leaving the forces in 1965 – angering his military family. “I prided myself on being the best worker or the one who could dig the ditches the fastest,” he later said. “Something in me made me want to do the hard things… Part of it was that I wanted to be a writer and I thought I had to get out and live. »
He moved to the country music hub of Nashville, where he worked as a bartender and janitor for Columbia Recording Studios. In the late 1960s, he wrote songs for Jerry Lee Lewis and country singers including Ray Stevens, Faron Young and Billy Walker, but his solo career failed.
A breakthrough came after he landed a National Guard helicopter at Johnny Cash’s home and handed him a cassette of his songs, later describing the incident as “a kind of invasion of the privacy which I would not recommend.” Cash admired Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down and his recording of the Kristofferson song topped the country chart in 1970 and won song of the year at the Country Music Association awards.
That year, Kristofferson recorded the first of 18 studio albums he would release over the course of his career. He briefly dated Janis Joplin, who recorded his song Me and Bobby McGee, and it became a No. 1 hit after her death in 1970. Another Kristofferson song from that year, Help Me Make It Through the Night, became a hit for Sammi Smith. and was later covered by Elvis Presley, Gladys Knight, Mariah Carey and others.
By the time his fourth album, Jesus Was a Capricorn, topped the country charts in 1972, the strikingly handsome Kristofferson had begun an acting career, first appearing in Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie. Other notable films include playing the outlaw Billy the Kid in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), opposite Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), and with Burt Reynolds in the sports comedy-drama Semi-Tough (1977). A Star Is Born cemented his Hollywood success, but it was then undermined by Heaven’s Gate (1980), a famous box office failure.
In 1979, Willie Nelson made a hit album of Kristofferson covers, and in 1982 the duo collaborated with Dolly Parton and Brenda Lee on a compilation of their mid-’60s songs. In 1985, Kristofferson and Nelson formed a another supergroup, the Highwaymen, with Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Their debut album, Highwayman, with its title song written by Jimmy Webb, propelled Kristofferson to the top of the country charts.
In the 1980s, he sharply criticized U.S. President Ronald Reagan and foreign policy in Central America, when the United States financed the fight against left-wing forces in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Kristofferson’s 1986 album Repossessed referenced conflict.
His acting career, while consistent, received a boost in 1996 when he played the villainous Sheriff Charlie Wade in John Sayles’ famous neo-western, Lone Star, alongside Chris Cooper and Matthew McConaughey. This led to important roles, including that of vampire hunter Abraham Whistler in three Blade films, starring Wesley Snipes.
Kristofferson retired in 2021. His last film role was in the Ethan Hawke-directed drama Blaze (2018), and his most recent release was 2016’s The Cedar Creek Sessions.
He was married three times, first to Fran Beer in 1960. He married singer Rita Coolidge in 1973, and their duets album that year, Full Moon, became one of the biggest hits of Kristofferson, entering the Top 30 of the pop charts. in 1980. He is survived by his third wife, Lisa Meyers, whom he married in 1983 and with whom he had five children, adding to the three other children from his first two marriages.
