Country singer and “A Star Is Born” actor was 88 years old

Kris Kristofferson, who achieved success as both a groundbreaking country singer-songwriter and a Hollywood film and television star, died Saturday at home in Maui, Hawaii. No cause of death was given, but he was described as passing away peacefully surrounded by his family. He was 88.

His family said in a statement: “It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our husband/father/grandfather Kris Kristofferson passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, September 28th. We are all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him for all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, you know he is smiling down on all of us.” The statement was made on behalf of Kristofferson's wife, Lisa; his eight children, Tracy, Kris Jr., Casey, Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly and Blake; and his seven grandchildren.

Kyle Young, the CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said, “Kris Kristofferson deeply believed that creativity is God-given and that those who ignore or reject such a sacred gift are doomed to failure and misfortune.” He preached that a spiritual life gives voice to the soul, and then he created a work that gave voice not only to his soul but to our soul as well. Kris' heroes included prizefighter Muhammad Ali, great poet William Blake and “Hillbilly Shakespeare” Hank Williams. He lived his life in a way that honored and exemplified the values ​​of each of these men, and he leaves a just, courageous and overwhelming legacy consistent with theirs.”

Kristofferson had already spent a few modestly successful years in the Music City song mills, writing No. 1 country hits like “For the Good Times” (Ray Price, 1970) and “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (Johnny Cash, 1970) and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (Sammi Smith, 1971). His song “Me and Bobby McGee” became a posthumous No. 1 pop hit in 1971 for his former lover Janis Joplin.

His first four albums for Monument Records, which showcased his gravelly, unmannerly vocals and his poetically crafted proto-outlaw country songs, all reached the top 10 in the country, and 1972's “Jesus Was a Capricorn” contained his #1 country hit “Why Me” topped the country LP charts. He won three Grammys: for best country song (“Help Me Make It Through the Night”) and two duets with Rita Coolidge, to whom he was married from 1973 to 1980.

Bill C. Malone noted in “Country Music, USA,” the standard history of the genre, “Kristofferson's lyrics often spoke of loneliness, alienation, and pain, but they also celebrated freedom and honest relationships, and did so in intimate, sensual language.” of country music.”

The musician's slim, good looks and laid-back personality made him a natural for pictures. His first on-screen appearance came in Bill L. Norton's 1972 feature film “Cisco Pike,” in which he played the title character, an L.A. musician and drug dealer under the thumb of a corrupt narcotics cop (Gene Hackman); The feature also used several Kristofferson songs in its soundtrack.

He became increasingly popular in films in the 1970s, playing the romantic lead opposite Susan Anspach in Paul Mazursky's Flower in Love (1973) and Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). . . In 1977, he won a Golden Globe Award alongside Barbra Streisand as the determined rock star in the third version of A Star is Born.

However, he experienced severe blows of fate in some legendary productions in Hollywood. He co-starred with James Coburn as the notorious outlaw in Sam Peckinpah's ambitious 1973 western Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid; The film became an infamous cause-celebre after it was taken away from the director and recut by MGM. (Kristofferson later starred in Peckinpah's “Convoy” (1978), based on CW McCall's CB radio hit; although the film made money, the actor's publicity was dismal.)

Kristofferson's acting career never fully recovered after he starred in Michael Cimino's 1980 Western epic Heaven's Gate. Dogged by rumors of cost overruns and Cimino's on-set perfectionism before release, the film received scathing reviews and was almost immediately withdrawn from release and drastically reworked. United Artists – which was sold to MGM after the Transamerica debacle – wrote off the film's entire $44 million a week after its premiere. His title practically became synonymous with Tinseltown excess and hubris.

Despite the scathing criticism, Kristofferson always steadfastly defended Heaven's Gate, which later gained critical respect. In a 2012 video interview included on the Criterion Collection's home video release of the film, he said: “Both Michael and his film deserved better… (he) deserved to be treated like a work of art and not like a failed business venture.”

In the 80s he slowly found his career again. With Willie Nelson – who recorded a best-selling album of Kristofferson's songs in 1979 – he appeared in Alan Rudolph's 1984 feature film “Songwriter”; Their collaborative song score received an Oscar nomination.

In 1985, Kristofferson, Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings reunited for the album Highwayman, a No. 1 country album that introduced the outlaw country supergroup. The quartet, originally known as the Highwaymen, released two more popular albums in 1990 and 1995.

His film career continued apace, albeit in smaller roles; Ultimately, he made more than 100 film and television appearances as an actor. In 1996, he earned strong reviews as a sadistic Texas lawman in John Sayles' Lone Star. In 1998, he made his first of three appearances as vampire hunter Abraham Whistler alongside Wesley Snipes in the popular comic book series Blade.

After parting ways with Monument in the early 1980s, Kristofferson only made sporadic solo recordings. Still, he received strong reviews for three poignant and personal recent albums – “A Moment of Forever” (1995), “This Old Road” (2006) and “Closer to the Bone” (2009), which were produced exclusively by Don Was. He released “Feeling Mortal” in 2013 on his own label KK Records.

Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2015.

At the time of the latter honor, his contemporary and friend Rodney Crowell wrote that Kristofferson had “created a narrative style that introduced intelligence, humor, emotional eloquence, spiritual yearning, male vulnerability, and a devilish sensuality – indeed, a form of eroticism” to country music .”

He was born on June 2, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas. His father was a career officer in the Army Air Corps and Air Force, and his family moved frequently. He attended high school in San Mateo, California, where he proved to be both a strong student and a gifted athlete. He graduated summa cum laude from Pomona College with a degree in English and attended Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar.

During his stay in Great Britain, Kristofferson recorded his first records as Kris Carson. However, when he returned to the United States, he joined the army under pressure from his family. He eventually achieved the rank of captain and was able to pilot a helicopter. But shortly before his assignment as an English teacher at West Point, he left the army and moved to Nashville in 1965 to devote himself full-time to music. His family immediately cut off contact with him.

Kristofferson struggled in Music City for four years, working as a helicopter pilot and tearing down the city's local Columbia Records studio (where he reportedly first met his future “Pat Garrett” co-star Bob Dylan) to make “Blonde.” On “Blond”). It took some convincing to get one of country music's most prominent performers to pay attention to his songs – an incident that became Nashville legend.

Johnny Cash later recalled, “I didn't really listen to them until one afternoon when he flew a National Guard helicopter and landed in my yard. I was taking a nap and June said, “Some idiot landed a helicopter in our yard.” They used to come off the street. Now they're coming from heaven!' And I look up and there's Kris coming out of a helicopter with a beer in one hand and a cassette in the other.”

Kristofferson's “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” recorded by Cash live on “The Johnny Cash Show,” became one of the author's first significant hits and was named Song of the Year by the Country Music Association. He accepted the award in a famously sad television appearance.

Now considered one of the country's most respected hit writers – with notable covers of other top talent including Ray Stevens, Bobby Bare, Roger Miller and Waylon Jennings – he has been signed by Monument to a long-term deal. His 1970 debut LP Kristofferson had meager sales but rose to No. 10 on the country charts in 1971 after the label renamed the set Me and Bobby McGee after Joplin's hit rendition.

A country music outlaw since before the term came into circulation, Kristofferson landed eight consecutive '70s albums in the country top 25. His mix of laconic charm and cool danger landed him a number of leading roles in Hollywood films, including The Sailor Who Fell. From Grace With the Sea” and “Semi-Tough”.

But by the time Heaven's Gate crashed and burned at the box office, alcohol and drug abuse had personally devastated the hard-living performer. He told the Guardian in 2008 that when he finally cut down on his drinking after splitting from Coolidge, “the doctor said my liver was the size of a football and if I didn't stop I would kill myself.”

His resurgent music and film career was steady from the '80s onwards, if not exactly spectacular compared to his early fame. In later years he focused primarily on acting, although he continued to tour regularly. His recordings for Mercury Records, “Repossessed” (1986) and “Third World Warrior” (1990), contained outspoken expressions of his left-leaning political views.