Kris Kristofferson, RIP

Kris Kristofferson, the country legend who was also a movie star and Rhodes Scholar, died on Sunday at his home in Maui, Hawaii at age 88. “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 28 at home,” his family wrote in a statement. “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.”

Born June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, TX, Kris was an military brat and moved frequently, and developed a talent for writing and music at an early age, not to mention Athletics. He had essays published in The Atlantic and appeared in the pages of Sports Illustrated, both in the ’50s, and attended the University of Oxford in 1958 as a Rhodes Scholar. Around the same time he also was trying his hand as a singer-songwriter, but it didn’t really take off until moving to Nashville after his military service was finished. He passed a tape to Johnny Cash while sweeping floors at Columbia Recording Studios and the Man in Black ended up recording his songs “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and others.

Kristofferson’s songwriting credits also include “Me and Bobby McGee”, “For the Good Times”, “For the Good Times,” and “Once More with Feeling” which were hits for other artists. In the ’70s, he became a country artist in his own right and had a #1 hit in 1973 with “Why Me.” which was also when his movie career took off. His film credits include Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Paul Mazursky’s Blume in Love, Michael Cimino’s infamous flop Heaven’s Gate, and he co-starred with Barbara Streisand, who he dated, in a remake of A Star is Born.

Rest easy, Kris.

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