Kris Kristofferson, the legendary country star turned superstar actor, has passed away at 88. No cause of death has yet been revealed, but Kristofferson retired from public life in 2021. While some of you reading this may know him best for playing Whistler in the Blade trilogy, his career goes much deeper than that, making him one of the most fascinating pop culture icons of his time.

Before he ever became an actor, Kristofferson was famous as a writer of country hits, including the immortal “Me and Bobby McGee,” later launching his own recording career, which included multiple Grammy wins and Gold records. But, even before that, he was quite accomplished, being a former Rhodes Scholar and captain in the U.S. Army. He famously turned down a teaching job (in English Lit) at West Point to focus on his musical career. He was seen as one of the leading figures in the Outlaw Country movement, which was a rejection of the more polished Nashville sound, eventually forming a supergroup called The Highwaymen with pals Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.

Arguably, Kristofferson found his greatest success in movies, with his scraggly good looks but earthy, gentle demeanour making him one of the most in-demand leading men of the seventies. He starred in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid for Sam Peckinpah (as Billy), in addition to Convoy, which was a smash hit in 1978 (he also had a small role in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia). He starred as Ellen Burstyn’s love interest in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, and at the peak of his heartthrob status, co-starred with Barbara Streisand in the 1976 version of A Star is Born.

In 1980, Kristofferson’s career suffered a setback when he starred in the infamous box office bomb Heaven’s Gate (although in recent years, Michael Cimino’s film has been reappraised), and ended the eighties being in Big Top Pee Wee and the (fun) sci-fi flick Millennium. He scored a major comeback as an actor in the nineties when he starred in John Sayles’ Lone Star before signing on to do the Blade trilogy. He was so popular as the titular character’s mentor that they brought him back in the sequel after originally killing him off. He popped up in many films after that, playing everything from the bad guy in a terrible Steven Seagal movie (Fire Down Below), a human in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake, to voicing a character in Fallout: New Vegas. All the while, he continued to perform and remained a legendary figure many looked up to, including the writer of this article.

Rest in peace, Kris. “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose / Nothin’, don’t mean nothin’ hon’ if it ain’t free.”

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