Kris Kristofferson, the country singer who successfully balanced music and a prolific acting career, has died at the age of 88.
Kristofferson's family confirmed his death Sunday night, saying he “passed away peacefully” at his home on Saturday. “We are all so happy to have had him with us,” said a statement signed by his wife Lisa, eight children and seven grandchildren. “Thank you for loving him all these years. And when you see a rainbow, know he's smiling down on us all.”
Kristofferson was praised for the grit, emotional vulnerability, and literary craft of his country songwriting, frequently topping the U.S. country charts, and cover versions of his songs appearing by Janis Joplin, Gladys Knight, and Johnny. It was a hit with artists such as Cash. In the mid-'70s, she worked with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Sam Peckinpah, and won a Golden Globe for her role opposite 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 be a novelist, but later studied literature at Pomona College in Southern California and at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. . Inspired by the early rock'n'roll scene, his first foray into music was as Chris Carson in England, but none of his recordings were ever released.
He continued to play music while serving in the U.S. Army and becoming a helicopter pilot, and continued to practice his craft (in the oil industry and in the National Guard) after retiring in 1965, much to the ire of military families. I bought it. “I prided myself on being the best worker, or the guy who could dig a ditch faster than anyone else,” he later said. “Something inside me wanted to do something really hard. I wanted to be a writer, but I knew I had to go out and make a living.”
He moved to Nashville, the country music capital, where he worked as a bartender and as a manager at Columbia Recording Studios. In the late '60s, he wrote songs for country singers such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Stevens, Fallon Young, and Billy Walker, but his solo career languished.
The breakthrough came when a National Guard helicopter landed at Johnny Cash's home and he handed over tapes of Johnny Cash's songs, but he later called the incident “a kind of invasion of privacy and I don't recommend it.” Ta. Cash praised “Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down,” and Kristofferson's recording of the song topped the country charts in 1970 and won the Country Music Association Award for song of the year.
That year, Kristofferson recorded the first of 18 studio albums he would release during his career. He briefly dated Janis Joplin, who recorded his song “Me and Bobby McGee,” which became a number one hit after her death in 1970. Another Kristofferson song from the same year, “Help Me Make It Through the Night”, became a hit single for Sammy Smith. It 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 his acting career and was cast in director Dennis Hopper's He made his first appearance in “The Last Movie.'' More notable films include Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), in which he played the outlaw Billy the Kid, and Martin Scorsese's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973); She starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in “I Don't Live Here'' (1974) and co-starred with Burt Reynolds in the sports comedy drama “Cicada.'' Tough (1977). A Star is Born cemented his success in Hollywood, but that success was later undone by the famous box office flop Heaven's Gate (1980).
In 1979 Willie Nelson had a hit album of Kristofferson covers, and in 1982 he teamed up with Dolly Parton and Brenda Lee to create a compilation of songs from the mid-'60s. In 1985, Kristofferson and Nelson formed another supergroup, the Highwaymen, with Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. His debut album, Highwayman, which included the title song written by Jimmy Webb, returned Kristofferson to the top of the country charts.
In the 1980s, when the United States was funding fighting against leftist forces in El Salvador and Nicaragua, he was a vocal critic of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his Central American foreign policy. Kristofferson's 1986 album Repossessed referenced the conflict.
Although his acting career was stable, he played the role of villainous sheriff Charlie Wade alongside Chris Cooper and Matthew McConaughey in John Sayles' acclaimed new Western Lone Star in 1996. Highly rated. He went on to play notable roles, including playing vampire hunter Abraham Whistler in three Blade films starring Wesley Snipes.
Kristofferson retired in 2021. His last film appearance was in the Ethan Hawke drama “Blaze'' (2018), and his most recent album was 2016's “Cedar Creek Sessions.''
He was married three times, the first being to Fran Biel in 1960. He married singer Rita Coolidge in 1973, and their duet album Full Moon that year became one of Kristofferson's biggest hits, reaching the top 30 of the pop charts. they got divorced. He is survived by his third wife, Lisa Myers, whom he married in 1983 and had five children in addition to the three from his first two marriages.
