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The death of Harry Dean Stanton, one of the most prolific screen actors of his generation, has been announced; he passed away of natural causes. Born in the mid-1920s, he first worked as a cook in the US Navy before turning his attention to acting, and come the fifties began to crop up in many Westerns, his lean appearance lending itself well to supporting characters in cowboy hats. Although picking up many roles on the big and small screen, it was not really until his part in Monte Hellman's Ride in the Whirlwind that he began to gather a following that would see him lauded as an example of the great "that guy" actor; after that he never looked back.
As the sixties progressed, he appeared in many more TV shows, but his films into the seventies were growing in stature and interest, among them Cool Hand Luke, Rebel Rousers, Kelly's Heroes, Two Lane Blacktop, Cisco Pike, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Dillinger, Cockfighter, The Godfather Part II, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, Rancho Deluxe, Farewell My Lovely, 92 in the Shade, The Missouri Breaks, Renaldo and Clara, Straight Time, Wise Blood, Alien, The Rose... seriously, Stanton's hit rate of cult movies was extraordinary.
Then came the eighties, where he showed no signs of slowing down: Death Watch, Private Benjamin, Escape from New York, One from the Heart, Young Doctors in Love, Christine, Repo Man (perhaps his ultimate, movie-stealing role), Paris Texas (or it could have been that one), Red Dawn ("Avenge me!!!"), UFOria, One Magic Christmas, Pretty in Pink (as Molly Ringwald's defeated dad), Slam Dance and the Last Temptation of Christ.
The nineties were similarly blessed with his presence though his profile dipped: David Lynch's Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and The Straight Story, Fire Down Below, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Green Mile, and into the 21st century with the likes of Alpha Dog, Alien Autopsy, Inland Empire, Rango, This Must Be the Place, The Avengers, Seven Psychopaths and The Last Stand. Fittingly, his final major role was in the Twin Peaks revival from Lynch on television, though a rare lead in John Carroll Lynch's Lucky was picking up awards buzz at the time of his death. He was also a talented musician. A remarkable career, and many will feel sad we won't see him popping up unexpectedly in future movies. |
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