Harry Dean Stanton | |
|---|---|
 Stanton in 2006 | |
| Born | (1926-07-14)July 14, 1926 West Irvine, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | September 15, 2017(2017-09-15) (aged 91) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Kentucky Pasadena Playhouse |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1954–2017 |
| Website | harrydeanstanton |
Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films includingCool Hand Luke (1967),Kelly's Heroes (1970),Dillinger (1973),The Godfather Part II (1974),Alien (1979),Escape from New York (1981),Christine (1983),Repo Man (1984),One Magic Christmas (1985),Pretty in Pink (1986),The Last Temptation of Christ (1988),Wild at Heart (1990),The Straight Story (1999),The Green Mile (1999),The Man Who Cried (2000),Alpha Dog (2006),Inland Empire (2006),Rango (2011),The Avengers (2012), andSeven Psychopaths (2012). He had rare lead roles inParis, Texas (1984) andLucky (2017).
Stanton was born inWest Irvine, Kentucky, to Sheridan Harry Stanton, atobacco farmer and barber, and Ersel (née Moberly), a cook.[1] His parents divorced when Stanton was in high school; both later remarried.[2]
Stanton had two younger brothers and a younger half-brother. His family had a musical background. Stanton attendedLafayette High School[2] and theUniversity of Kentucky inLexington where he performed at theGuignol Theatre under the direction of theater director Wallace Briggs,[3] and studied journalism and radio arts. "I could have been a writer," he told an interviewer for a 2011 documentary,Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland, in which he sings and plays the harmonica.[4] "I had to decide if I wanted to be a singer or an actor. I was always singing. I thought if I could be an actor, I could do all of it." Briggs encouraged him to leave the university and become an actor. He studied at thePasadena Playhouse inPasadena, California, where his classmates included his friendsTyler MacDuff andDana Andrews.[5]
DuringWorld War II, Stanton served in theUnited States Navy, including a stint as a cook aboard theUSSLST-970, aLanding Ship, Tank, during theBattle of Okinawa.[6][7]
Stanton made his first television appearance in 1954, with a role in theInner Sanctum episode "Hour of Darkness". He played Stoneman in the 1959Have Gun – Will Travel episode "Treasure Trail", credited as Dean Stanton. He made his film debut in the 1957 WesternTomahawk Trail.[1] He appeared (uncredited) as a complainingBAR man at the beginning of the 1959 filmPork Chop Hill, starringGregory Peck. Then in 1962, he had a very small part inHow the West Was Won, portraying one of Charlie Gant's (Eli Wallach) gang. The following year he had a minor role as a poetry-reciting beatnik inThe Man from the Diner's Club. Early in his career, he took the name Dean Stanton to avoid confusion with the actor Harry Stanton.[1]
His breakthrough part[8] came with the lead role inWim Wenders'Paris, Texas. PlaywrightSam Shepard, who wrote the film's script, had spotted Stanton at a bar inSanta Fe, New Mexico, in 1983 while both were attending afilm festival in that city. The two fell into conversation. "I was telling him I was sick of the roles I was playing," Stanton recalled in a 1986 interview. "I told him I wanted to play something of some beauty or sensitivity. I had no inkling he was considering me for the lead in his movie."[8] Not long afterward, Shepard phoned him in Los Angeles to offer Stanton the part of the protagonist, Travis,[8] "a role that called for the actor to remain largely silent ... as a lost, broken soul trying to put his life back together and reunite with his estranged family after having vanished years earlier."[9]
Stanton appeared inindie andcult films such asTwo-Lane Blacktop (1971),Cockfighter (1974),Escape from New York (1981),Repo Man (1984),The Straight Story (1999), andInland Empire (2006), as well as mainstream Hollywood productions, includingCool Hand Luke, (1967),Kelly's Heroes (1970),Dillinger (1973),The Godfather Part II (1974),Alien (1979),The Rose (1979),Private Benjamin (1980),Young Doctors in Love (1982),Christine (1983),Red Dawn (1984),One Magic Christmas (1985),Pretty in Pink (1986),The Last Temptation of Christ (1988),Wild at Heart (1990),Down Periscope (1996),Fire Down Below (1997),The Green Mile (1999),The Man Who Cried (2000),Alpha Dog (2006), andRango (2011). He was a favorite actor of the directorsSam Peckinpah,John Milius,David Lynch, andMonte Hellman, and was also close friends withFrancis Ford Coppola andJack Nicholson. He wasbest man at Nicholson's wedding in 1962.[10]
Stanton was a favorite of film critic Roger Ebert, who said that "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton orM. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." However, Ebert later admitted thatDream a Little Dream (1989), in which Stanton appeared, was a "clear violation" of this rule.[11]
He had eight appearances between 1958 and 1968 onGunsmoke, four on the network'sRawhide, three onThe Untouchables, two onBonanza, and an episode ofThe Rifleman. He played the wrongly accused Lucius Brand (credited as Dean Stanton) inThe Wild Wild West S3 E7 "The Night of the Hangman" (1967). He later had a cameo inTwo and a Half Men (having previously appeared withJon Cryer inPretty in Pink and withCharlie Sheen inRed Dawn). Beginning in 2006, Stanton featured as Roman Grant, the manipulative leader/prophet of a polygamous sect on the HBO television seriesBig Love.[10]
Stanton also occasionally toured nightclubs as a singer and guitarist, playing mostly country-inflected cover tunes.[7] He appeared in theDwight Yoakam music video for "Sorry You Asked",[12] portrayed a cantina owner in aRy Cooder video for "Get Rhythm",[12] and participated in the video forBob Dylan's "Dreamin' of You".[12] He worked with a number of musical artists, Dylan,Art Garfunkel, andKris Kristofferson[13] among them, and played harmonica onThe Call's 1989 albumLet the Day Begin.[14]
In 2010, Stanton appeared in an episode of the TV seriesChuck, reprising his role in the 1984 filmRepo Man. In 2011, the Lexington Film League created an annual festival, the Harry Dean Stanton Fest, to honor Stanton in the city where he spent much of his adolescence.[2][nb 1] In 2012, he had a brief cameo inThe Avengers and a key role in the action-comedySeven Psychopaths. He also appeared in theArnold Schwarzenegger action filmThe Last Stand (2013). Stanton was the subject of a 2013 documentary,Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, directed by Sophie Huber and featuring film clips, interviews with collaborators (including Wenders, Shepard, Kris Kristofferson, and David Lynch), and Stanton's singing.
In 2017, he appeared inTwin Peaks: The Return, a continuation of David Lynch's 1990–91 television series.[1] Stanton reprised his role as Carl Rodd fromTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.[1] His last on-screen appearances are as a sheriff inFrank & Ava and a starring role as a 90-year-old man nicknamed "Lucky" and his struggles against encroaching old age inLucky.[19][1]
Stanton was never married, though he had a short relationship with actressRebecca De Mornay in 1981–82.[20] "I might have had two or three [kids] out of marriage," he once told theAssociated Press. "But that's another story."[20]
Appearing in the documentary Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, whilst in conversation with David Lynch, Stanton commented "2 or 3 times, girls said they were pregnant just out of brief affairs. Sad, sad story. I never had a DNA test, but 1 kid I'm sure is mine. I never really bonded with the mothers or them. I've just been a loner all my life."[21]
Stanton died aged 91 on September 15, 2017, from heart failure, at theCedars-Sinai Medical Center inLos Angeles, California.[22][1][10] A small marker containing his cremated remains was established in a cemetery inNicholasville, Kentucky.[23]
Stanton was celebrated in "I Want That Man", a 1989 song recorded byDeborah Harry which begins with the line "I want to dance with Harry Dean."[24] In her memoir, Harry writes that Stanton heard the song and arranged to meet her at a club in London.[25]
Stanton is mentioned in the 2013 song "Christmas in L.A." bythe Killers. The song's music video begins with a dialogue between the voices ofOwen Wilson and Harry Dean Stanton.[26]
Pop Will Eat Itself released a track titled "Harry Dean Stanton" on their albumThe Looks or the Lifestyle? His lead role in the filmParis, Texas, was memorialized inHayes Carll's 2019 song "American Dream" with the lyrics, "like Harry Dean Stanton on a drive-in screen, a tumbleweed blowing through Paris, Texas, he fell down into the American dream."[27]
Ian McNabb recorded the song "Harry Dean Stanton" on his albumUtopian, released in January 2021. McNabb noted the following about the track: "I didn't know too much about him and didn't really want to because I knew I had to write a song using his name as the title, so I wrote these lyrics for and around him – I imagined what it must be like to be him – while dropping some of my own experiences into the narrative. I was lurking around Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell" and "Lenny Bruce" – I wanted that atmosphere. I've never claimed to be original."[28]
Harry Dean Stanton appears in the 2004 documentaryDig!, which chronicles the rivalry between bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. He is not the subject of the film, but rather makes a memorable cameo at one of the band's parties.[29]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Decision | Simeon Dawson | Season 1, Episode 4 ("The Tall Man") |
| 1960 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Lemon | Season 5, Episode 37 ("Escape to Sonoita") |
| 1968 | The Virginian | Clint Daggert | Season 7, Episode 08 ("Ride to Misadventure") |
| 1969 | Petticoat Junction | Ringo | S 7, Ep 4: "One of Our Chickens is Missing"(credited as Dean Stanton) |
| 1993 | Hotel Room | Moe | Episode: "Tricks" |
| 2004 | Two and a Half Men | Himself | Season 2, Episode 1 ("Back Off, Mary Poppins") |
| 2006–2010 | Big Love | Roman Grant | 37 episodes |
| 2013–2015 | Getting On | Leonard Butler | 3 episodes |
| 2017 | Twin Peaks: The Return | Carl Rodd | 5 episodes |
