Kris Kristofferson, actor, musician and long-haired activist who embodied the countercultural spirit of postwar America, died at his home in Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday, a representative confirmed.
He was 88.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home,” a family statement shared by spokesperson Ebie McFarland said. “We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all.”
The cause of death was not available.
Kris Kristofferson performing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2017.Awais Butt / Camera Press/Redux
Born in Brownsville, Texas, Kristofferson grew up in San Mateo, California, and ended up at Pomona College in eastern Los Angeles County before heading to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, according to his biography.
He returned, joined the Army, and was tapped by a superior to teach English at West Point, but instead turned to songwriting.
His music came at a time when the nation’s baby boom was coming of age. Kristofferson was inspired by Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. By the 1970s, Kristofferson was a known talent in Nashville, having seen his song “Sunday Mornin’” performed by Johnny Cash.
In the mid-1970s, Hollywood called, and Kristofferson became an archetype — his hair, his wisdom, his romance seen throughout the nation via the hit remake “A Star Is Born,” in which he portrayed an aging music icon opposite an up-and-comer portrayed by Barbra Streisand.
He won the Golden Globes’ best performance by an actor award in 1977 for the movie, which was released the previous year.
He returned to music, joining the supergroup the Highwaymen in the 1980s, but he arguably never again reached the masses in the same way he did with “A Star Is Born.”
Kristofferson is survived by his wife, Lisa; children Tracy, Kris Jr., Casey, Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly, and Blake; and seven grandchildren.