Kris Kristofferson has died at the age of 88

Kris Kristofferson – the tough but weary country singer/songwriter behind “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and the sturdy leading man in romance novels like “A Star is Born” (1976) and Westerns like “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” – has died at the age of 88. He died at his home in Maui, Hawaii.

A statement released by his family said: “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’s smiling down on us all.”

A proud son of South Texas, Kristofferson was also a military brat who bounced around a lot before finally settling in San Mateo, California. He then attended Pomona College, where he excelled in rugby, American football and track and field. He was even featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated once. He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in literature and received a Rhodes scholarship to the University of Oxford in London, where he continued to play rugby and boxing and also began writing songs. After graduating with a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1960, under pressure from his family, Kristofferson joined the U.S. Army and began as a helicopter pilot before attending Ranger School. He was eventually stationed in West Germany before being assigned to teach English at West Point. Kristofferson turned down the job and pursued a career in music, a decision that led to his family disowning him.

Kristofferson moved to Nashville in 1965 and took a job sweeping floors at Columbia Recording Studios, where he met June Carter, the future wife of Johnny Cash, but at the time just his musical partner. He gave Carter cassettes to give to Cash, but when she failed to get him to listen, Kristofferson landed a helicopter in Cash’s garden to get his attention. It’s unclear whether Cash was actually home at the time, but the famous country star eventually recorded Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” winning it songwriter of the year at the 1970 Country Music Association Awards.

Kristofferson continued to write songs for popular singers such as Jerry Lee Lewis (“Once More with Feeling”), Roy Drusky (“Jody and the Kid”) and Faron Young (“Your Time’s Comin'”) before soon becoming a recording artist in his own right . At the same time, his chiseled features and sparkling eyes soon caught the attention of Hollywood, landing him roles in projects by legendary filmmakers such as Sam Peckinpah (“Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”) and Paul Mazursky (“Flower in Love”). , and Martin Scorsese (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”). His status as a star of hit films was upended by the release of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, an epic and highly detailed western that drove United Artists into bankruptcy and is considered a contributing factor in the end of the independent cinema movement that began during it Time flourished in the late 60s and 70s. However, Kristofferson always praised the film’s appeal and it has since been re-evaluated as an overlooked gem of the Western genre.

In the 1980s, Kristofferson joined forces with country stars Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash to form the supergroup The Highwaymen. Later in his career, he appeared in an extremely diverse range of films, from John Sayles’ Lone Star to Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation to Wesley Snipes’ Blade trilogy.

In one of his more public displays of support for fellow artists in 1992, after Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor violently protested and tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on stage during her appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” Kristofferson refused to stop them. while being booed during a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden.

“I didn’t intend to do that,” Kristofferson said on the Irish television show “Saturday Night with Miriam” in 2010. “I went out and said, ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down,’ and she said, ‘I’m not down,’ and she sang. It was very brave. It just seemed wrong to boo the little girl out there, but she always had courage.”

If anyone knew anything about courage, it was Kristofferson, and his work and actions continue to serve as a powerful message to those who may need a little push to follow their heart.