If Kris Kristofferson’s life were fiction, it would feel a little implausible.
He was a Texas-born Golden Gloves boxer and star football player, a Rhodes Scholar and a helicopter-flying US Army captain who walked away from a West Point faculty gig to briefly become a janitor on his way to becoming one of the greatest American singer-songwriters of the 20th century.
And, as if just for kicks along the way, he became a devilishly handsome major movie star who could play either a rugged outlaw or a romantic leading man.
Kristofferson, a father of eight children who was married to third wife Lisa Meyers for the last four decades of his life, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii at age 88, surrounded by family.
He had a master’s degree in English from Oxford and could quote the poetry of William Blake from memory. One of his best songs, The Pilgrim, probably played on The Pilgrim’s Progress from a even older English writer, John Bunyan.
Kristofferson’s title character could be a description of himself: “He’s a walking contradiction partly truth and partly fiction, Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”
Though the “lonely” part certainly didn’t apply. Kristofferson never lacked for friends, including heroes who became mentors and close companions, like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.
He would become known for playing the handsome love interest in films that centred on strong women: Ellen Burstyn in 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, directed by Martin Scorsese, and Barbra Streisand in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, a role echoed by Bradley Cooper in the 2018 remake.
Both Scorsese and Streisand paid tribute to Kristofferson.
“Right now, I’m on a small boat between Ustica and Palermo, listening to Me and Bobby McGee, remembering Kris Kristofferson. Just like half of the world. I was lucky enough to work with Kris. He was a poet. Truly. Inside and out. And a damn good actor, a remarkable screen presence. Spending time with Kris when we made Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore was one of the highlights of my life,” Scorsese in a statement.
“The first time I saw Kris performing at the Troubadour club in LA, I knew he was something special,” Streisand said on Instagram.
Members of the country music community also paid tribute, with Dolly Parton leading the well wishes.
“What a great loss. What a great writer. What a great actor. What a great friend. I will always love you, Dolly,” she said.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young in a statement: “Kris Kristofferson believed creativity is God-given, and those who ignore such a gift are doomed to unhappiness. He preached that a life of the mind gives voice to the soul, and his work gave voice not only to his soul but to ours. He leaves a resounding legacy.”
“Loved this man, his talent, his mind and his beautiful heart. Journey well, my friend,” singer Melissa Etheridge said on X.
