Kris Kristofferson, country music star and Hollywood icon, has died aged 88

Kris Kristofferson, a legend of country music and a Hollywood icon on the small and silver screens, has died aged 88.

The leading man of the 1976 musical epic A Star Is Born died on Saturday (local time) at his home in Maui, Hawaii. No cause of death was given, but his family said it was peaceful.

“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. We’re all so blessed for our time with him,” Kristofferson’s family said on Instagram.

“Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all.”

The statement was issued on behalf of Kristofferson’s wife, Lisa; his children, Tracy, Kris Jnr, Casey, Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly and Blake; and his seven grandchildren.

Kyle Young, the CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said Kristofferson leaves behind a legacy that is “righteous, courageous and resounding”.

“Kris Kristofferson believed to his core that creativity is God-given, and that those who ignore or deflect such a holy gift are doomed to failure and unhappiness. He preached that a life of the mind gives voice to the soul, and then he created a body of work that gave voice not only to his soul but to ours,” Young said in a statement to media.

“Kris’s heroes included the prize fighter Muhammad Ali, the great poet William Blake, and the ‘Hillbilly Shakespeare,’ Hank Williams. He lived his life in a way that honoured and exemplified the values of each of those men, and he leaves a righteous, courageous and resounding legacy that rings with theirs.”

Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann and Lars Henry Kristofferson — a first-generation Swedish immigrant and US Army Air Corps officer and Air Force general, People reports.

He developed a passion for country music at a young age, penning his first song, I Hate Your Ugly Face, at just 11 years old. The Kristoffersons moved frequently throughout his childhood, until they took up residence in San Mateo, California when he was a teenager.

According to his official website, by the age of 18 Kristofferson had two short stories — Gone Are the Days and The Rock — published in Atlantic Monthly. He attended Pomona College in California in 1954, where he boxed and played football; he was also the sports editor of the school paper. During his senior year in 1958, Kristofferson was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” issue, and after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, he earned a Rhodes Scholarship and his master’s in English literature at Oxford University’s Merton College in 1960.

Kristofferson then joined the US Army, where he became a helicopter pilot and reached the rank of captain. During his service in West Germany in the early 1960s, he formed a band with other soldiers and explored his passion for songwriting. Despite being offered a job teaching English at West Point military academy, Kristofferson decided to relocate to Nashville, Tennessee, and resigned from the Army in 1965.

He went on to become a prolific songwriter and recording artist, releasing his first studio album Kristofferson in 1970. This was followed in quick succession by The Silver Tongued Devil and I, Border Lord, and Jesus Was a Capricorn. He released nine studio projects in the 1970s alone, followed by two in the 1980s and three in the 1990s, and collaborated with the likes of ex-wife Rita Coolidge, Barbra Streisand, Brenda Lee, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson.

Following his last studio output, The Cedar Creek Sessions, in 2016, Kristofferson announced his retirement from music in 2021 and shared that Morris Higham Management was representing his estate.

Kristofferson also became a star on the silver screen, securing roles in Cisco Pike (1972), Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973) and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). His big break is noted as his leading role as rock star John Norman Howard in the 1976 remake of a A Star Is Born, co-starring Barbra Streisand as his love interest and unknown singer, Esther Hoffman. The film earned Kristofferson a Golden Globe for best actor in 1977. He later starred opposite Wesley Snipes in the Blade trilogy.

Recent film credits include 7 Minutes (2014), The Red Maple Leaf (2016), Hickok (2017), The Star (2017), and Blaze (2018). He also starred in the History Channel miniseries Texas Rising in 2015.

Kristofferson was previously married to Fran Beer, with whom he welcomed Tracy in 1962 and Kris in 1968. He and Rita Coolidge had Casey in 1974. He is also the father of five children with Lisa Meyers, including Jesse (1983), Jody (1985), John (1988), Kelly Marie (1990) and Blake (1994). He and Meyers have been married for 41 years after tying the knot in 1983.

He is survived by his wife Lisa, his eight children, and seven grandchildren.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.