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Like
so many others before him, Kris Kristofferson pursued Hollywood success
after first finding fame in the pop-music arena. Unlike the vast majority
of his contemporaries, however, he could truly act as well as make music,
delivering superb, natural performances in films for directors the caliber
of Martin Scorsese, Sam Peckinpah and John Sayles.
Born June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas, Kristofferson
was a Phi Beta Kappa at Pomona College, earning a degree in creative
writing. At Oxford, he was a Rhodes Scholar, and while in Britain he
first performed his music professionally (under the name Kris Carson).
A five-year tour in the army followed, as did a stint teaching at West
Point. Upon exiting the military, he drifted around the country before
settling in Nashville, where he began earning a reputation as a gifted
singer and songwriter.
After a number of his compositions were covered by Roger
Miller, Kristofferson eventually emerged as one of the most sought-after
writers in music. In 1970 Johnny Cash scored a Number One hit with his
"Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and that same year he released
his debut LP, Kristofferson. Upon composing two more hits, Janis Joplin's
"Me and Bobby McGee" and Sammi Smith's "Help Me Make
It Through the Night," Kristofferson was a star in both pop and
country music.
In 1971 his friend Dennis Hopper asked him to write the
soundtrack for The Last Movie, and soon Kristofferson was even appearing
onscreen as himself. He next starred -- as a pop singer, appropriately
enough -- opposite Gene Hackman later that year in Cisco Pike, again
composing the film's music as well. Another role as a musician in 1973's
Blume in Love threatened to typecast him, but then Kristofferson starred
as the titular outlaw in Sam
Peckinpah's superb western Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. For Peckinpah,
Kristofferson also appeared in 1974's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,
followed by a breakthrough performance opposite Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn
in Martin Scorsese's acclaimed Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
After a two-year hiatus to re-focus his attentions on music,
he followed with a villainous turn in the little-seen Vigilante Force
and the much-hyped The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea. Amid
reports of a serious drinking problem, Kristofferson next starred as
an aging, alcoholic rocker opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake
of A Star Is Born -- an experience so grueling, and which hit so close
to home, that he later claimed the picture forced him to go on the wagon.
In 1977, Kristofferson teamed with Burt Reynolds to star in the football
comedy Semi-Tough, another hit. He next reunited with Peckinpah for
1978's Convoy. Hanover Street was scheduled to follow, but at the last
minute Kristofferson dropped out to mount a concert tour. Instead, he
next appeared with Muhammad Ali in the 1979 television miniseries Freedom
Road. He then starred in Michael Cimino's legendary 1981 disaster Heaven's
Gate, and when the follow-up -- Alan J. Pakula's Rollover -- also failed,
Kristofferson's film career was seriously crippled; he received no more
offers for three years, appearing only in a TV feature, 1983's The Lost
Honor of Kathryn Beck, and performing his music. His comeback vehicle,
the 1984 thriller Flashpoint, earned little attention, but Alan Rudolph's
Songwriter -- also starring Willie Nelson -- was well-received. In 1986,
Kristofferson reunited with Rudolph for Trouble in Mind, and starred
in three TV movies: The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James, Blood and
Orchids and a remake of John Ford's Stagecoach.Remaining on television,
Kristofferson co-starred in the epic 1987 miniseries Amerika. The year
following, he appeared in a pair of westerns, The Tracker and Dead or
Alive, and unexpectedly co-starred in the comedy Big-Top Pee-Wee. The
1989 sci-fi disappointment Millennium was his last major theatrical
appearance for some years. In the early 1990s the majority of his work
was either in television (the Pair of Aces films, Christmas in Connecticut)
or direct-to-video fare (Night of the Cyclone, Original Intent). In
many quarters, Kristofferson was largely a memory by the middle of the
decade, but in 1995 he enjoyed a major renaissance; first, he released
A Moment of Forever, his first album of new material in many years,
then co-starred in Pharoah's Army, an acclaimed art-house offering set
during the Civil War. The following year, Kristofferson delivered his
most impressive performance in recent memory as a murderous Texas sheriff
in John Sayles' Lone Star. He turned in another stellar performance
two years later in James Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries. After
a turn in the Mel Gibson vehicle Payback and Father Damien, Kristofferson
again collaborated with Sayles, playing a pilot of dubious reputation
in 1999's Limbo.
-- Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
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