Kris Kristofferson: Renaissance man

Kris Kristofferson in the 1987 television miniseries "Amerika".

Source: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/09/30/appreciation-music-great-kris-kristofferson-dead-at-88-i-was-a-janitor-for-a-couple-of-years/

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My earliest memory of Kris Kristofferson is that iconic album cover of him, shirt off and looking hot, with Barbra Streisand for “A Star is Born”. However, the first time I really saw him was in an epic and chilling miniseries in 1987.

He died two days ago and, although he initially made his mark as a singer and songwriter, I knew him best as an actor. I only came to his music in the ‘80s when he teamed up with a number of other country singers.

The early years
Wikipedia reveals he was a pioneer in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound to a more raw, introspective style.

He wrote a lot of hits songs for others including “Me and Bobby McGee”. Kristofferson started releasing his own singles in 1967 and albums in 1970.

However, I did not know him as a singer, I really came to know him as an actor.

His first role was in “The Last Movie” in 1971. He would go on to movies such as “Cisco Pike”; “The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus’; “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”; “Blume in Love”; “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”; “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”; “The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea”; and “Vigilante Force”.

I pick up his trail in 1976 where he played an established rock star who falls in love with an unknown singer played by Barbra Streisand. My Mom owned the soundtrack album on vinyl, and the cover is one of the most memorable images of the 1970s. It has Kristofferson and Streisand in each other’s arms kissing.

For his efforts, Kristofferson was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical.

He followed that up with the football comedy “Semi-Tough” in 1977; and “Convoy” in 1978, about truckers battling a corrupt sheriff in Arizona.

Dawn of the decade
Kristofferson opened the decade in 1980 with a starring role in the sprawling western “Heaven’s Gate.” The movie was a box office disappointment, but has since, in retrospect, been seen as a much better film than critics gave it credit for in 1980.

However, that seemed to adversely affect Kristofferson’s film career.

He did keep working, appearing in the films “Rollover”; “Flashpoint”; “Songwriter”, where he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score; and “Trouble in Mind”. He also appeared in the television movies “Freedom Road”; “The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck”; “The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James”; “Blood and Orchids”; and “Stagecoach”.

Kristofferson would then appear in a major television event that again took him into living rooms across the continent.

The Russians are coming
In 1987, Kristofferson played a major role in “Amerika”. It was a miniseries that looked at the the United States 10 years in the future, when the Soviet Union has engineered a successful coup of the United States and has occupied the country. The show examines what the country has become 10 years into the Soviet occupation through the eyes of various people.

One of those people is Devin Milford, played by Kristofferson, who was a former presidential candidate and resistor to the Soviet occupation.

I only saw the first two or three parts before I got busy with other things, but I recall Kristofferson was amazing as Devin Milford.

Rest of the decade
Kristofferson closed out the ‘80s by appearing in the movies “Big Top Peewee”; “Millennium”; and “Welcome Home”; and the television movie “The Tracker”.

Supergroup
In 1985, Kristofferson joined Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson to create the supergroup The Highwaymen. Their first album was “The Highwayman”. The first single was the title track which went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

The Highwaymen went on to release three albums from 1985 to 1995.

The years after
Kris Kristofferson kept on appearing in movies and television. His movies included “Lone Star”; “Blade”; “Payback”; “Planet of the Apes”; “Blade II”: “Where the Red Fern Grows”; “Silver City”; “Fast Food Nation”; “Requiem for Billy the Kid”; “He’s Just Not that into You”; “Deadfall”; and much more. His final role was in “Blaze” in 2018.

His television work included a lot of television movies such as “Christmas in Connecticut”; “Tad”; “Blue Rodeo”; “Two for Texas”; “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town”; and much more; and the miniseries “Lives of the Saints”. Kristofferson also was the narrator for 41 episodes of “Dead Man’s Gun”. His last role was in 2015 in the miniseries “Texas Rising”.

Kris Kristofferson won three Grammys and was nominated a total of 13 times; was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

He died on September 28, 2024.

He was 88 years old.

Parting thoughts
I find it funny that Kris Kristofferson was such a country music icon, but I am hard pressed to name one song he performed. After he died, I went on to YouTube and found a compilation of his songs. I played it, and again was hard pressed to recognize even one song.

I liked what I heard and realized I was just never around his music growing up.

Yet, I was around his acting, and I found him to be an imposing, intense presence on screen.

I remember him best in “Amerika” and he was just awesome.

What this all says to me is that he really was a bit of a renaissance man – singer, songwriter, performer, actor.