We have sad news, Harry Dean Stanton has died at the age of 91.
This well-known actor had six decades long and quite successful career. We could see him in movies like Repo Man, Paris, Texas, Cool Hand Luke, Alien, Christine, The Godfather Part II, The Green Mile, and Escape From New York. This is not all as he was praised for his acting in Twin Peaks by David Lynch and Big Love.
When he started, Stanton usually had small parts in few movies, and even those were quite good performances by this man, he still wasn’t in a position where he wanted to be when it comes to his career. Big things came in 1984 when he got the lead role in Paris, Texas. He shared his dissatisfaction about roles that he was given to his friend Sam Shepard, and he wrote the role of Travis that would perfectly suit Stanton. This was all said and done in a dusty Arizona bar where these two talked while having a drink. During the same year, we could see this guy in cult classic Repo Man, and we also need to mention his role in Alien from 1979 and Pretty In Pink from 1986.
In recent years we can talk about his appearance as Roman Grant in Big Love, and we do remember him as a Carl Rodd from Twin Peaks: The Return. This is not all we will see him in last announced credits, Frank and Ava, this is currently in post-production, and Lucky, where he portrays a 90-year-old man coming to terms with mortality. September 29th is the release date of the final project in which Stanton played, and we could hear that his performance already received many praises from people close to the festival circuit.
One of the reasons why David Lynch loved this actor so much is his fantastic and expressive looks. As a result, we could see the two cooperating on projects like Inland Empire, Wild At Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Twin Peaks: The Return.
Soon after the news broke out we could see Lynch posting: “The great Harry Dean Stanton has left us. There went a great one. There’s nobody like Harry Dean. Everyone loved him. And with good reason. He was a great actor (actually beyond great) – and a great human being – so great to be around him!!! You are really going to be missed Harry Dean!!! Loads of love to you wherever you are now!!!”
The talent of this man was undeniable. He was capable of delivering that haunted look needed for the Shakespearean monologue, something that not many could. Praises were pouring from all sides, and both critics and his colleagues were impressed. This needs to be combined with his offscreen life that was everything but not boring. It is hard to find a superstar from 1970’s that wasn’t a friend with Stanton. He was a lifelong friend with Marlon Brandon and was a best man of Jack Nicholson. After Jack’s marriage fell apart, he was the one that lived with him for two years. Among others that we need to mention are Bob Dylan and Hunter S. Thompson as we could see him singing at his funeral.
The rich career of this actor started about 60 years ago after he served in Navy during WWII. Stanton’s hometown of Lexington, KY started annual film festival that is dedicated to his work, and it is held in September of every year. In 2011 and 2013 two documentaries were filmed, Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland and Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction.
Many people were touched by Harry Dean Stanton, and he managed to enrich this world with his enchanted time that he spent on Earth. You know that if Harry Dean Stanton showed up, it was probably pretty cool in all aspects.
