Kris Kristofferson has died

RIP. I had no idea he was close to 90.

Had no idea he was that old. What a gorgeous man.

Wow, tough weekend. He was a good one.

Damn, he was hot. He made Barbra look like a troll in A Star was Born. (Of course the Jew-fro she was sporting did not help).

May he rest in peace.

It must be hard for Streisand to lose both Kristofferson and Ryan O'Neal in the past year.

Barbra also lost James Caan last year.

DEAD TO ME, OP!

Blade "star"?

People.com is really reaching for relevancy.

I really always respected him, Willie and Johnny for being unrepentant liberals in both times and places where it was borderline dangerous. I still tear up at him and Sinead, with him supporting her- again, at a time when it was extremely unpopular.

Maggie, Kris, who’s next? I’m predicting some celebrity half their age who dies in an accident.

RIP.

um, he's third, Drake was second.

I could have sworn he died a few weeks ago

John Ashton was the third

R10 - I’d settle for DJT.

One of his many kids Jody “War Pig” Kristofferson

He’s actually not officially dead until there’s a DEAD TO ME thread, so I’m still reserving comment.

Z level celebrities aren’t included in the usual dies in threes.

RIP. My mom thought he was so hot she named my brother, Kris, after him.

Never knew he was a Rhodes Scholar.

[quote]In 1958, Kristofferson was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, studying at Merton College. While at Oxford, he was awarded a Blue for boxing, played rugby for his college, and began writing songs.

[quote] I still tear up at him and Sinead, with him supporting her- again, at a time when it was extremely unpopular.

Turns out that wasn't quite true. Sinead says he just came out to get her off, not to comfort her.

I am shutting off Swans and going to watch Blade.

Classic lonely hangover song.

RIP

Aww - loved his deepset Sami eyes, like Renee Zellweger's.

What a sweet Swede.

I know the name so well but another I may have thought was already dead. Nice name I suppose.

What an eloquent eulogy, r25

Didn’t he die in A Star is Born? Life imitating art

R4 you speak my language. Her fro made me laugh like a hyena for decades

I'm so mad about this!

On the Cherilyn Sarkisian show, with his then wife Rita Coolidge

Yes r27, it’s scary the way that actors who die in movies later die in real life. It’s a chilling and unexplained phenomenon.

He was 88!

R4, you are a troll and a bigot.

Did any psychics predict this? What about the Hollywood medium guy, couldn’t he ask his spirit friends who might be next, maybe he could save some lives or at least make a series where he gets a last interview with a star who is about to die.

In 1960, Kristofferson graduated with a B.Phil. degree in English literature from Oxford, but his pushy family made him join the military. He finally landed a teaching job at West Point - but I guess the family guilt continued to gnaw at him and he quit teaching to fly helicopters into Vietnam.

Willie Nelson is getting nervous.

RIP. My mom loved him too. She's no longer with us, I'm glad I have you bitches to remember him with.

Long life well lived if not perfectly by an amazing man. No one lives perfectly.

I’m a little surprised to see someone use this as an occasion to run down the look of our Babs in the 70s. She might not have been an off-the-shelf Hollywood cupcake, but she was at her most beautiful in the 70s IMO.

R30, I am losing it. I totally forgot about Rita Coolidge. They were a star couple way back when.

Wait - he flew helicopters to oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. He did serve in the Army but not in 'nam.

He wrote some of his most memorable songs while working as a pilot, including "Help Me Make It Through the Night", which he said he wrote on an oil platform.

How did he die?

This made me laugh. Mace Montana, Pee Wee, and the hot dog tree.

He treated the lovely and talented Rita Coolidge like shit. She was too good for him.

His biggest contribution to mankind was cowriting One Day At A Time Sweet Jesus.

R42 a misaligned chakra.

R44 Oh shit, I forgot about that. He wasn't that great a musician or actor either, now that I think of it.

I’m sorry

R45 I didn’t know he wrote the theme song for One Day At A Time! This is it!

Didn't he date Janis Joplin?

R6, I didn't even know James had died. He was so fucking hot back in the day!

- Not Barbra

He was drunk when he guest hosted SNL in its first season.

So was he better known as a singer or actor? I had no idea that he was a country singer or that he was a Rhodes scholar.

Only a few weeks ago, his spectacular ranch was up for sale, suggesting he'd been in ill health for a while.

Jane Fonda said her love scene with him was the only time she was turned on during a love scene.

"Or I may simply be a single drop of rain...but I will remain."

I know his daughter that he made with Rita. She's a mess, he pretty much diowned her and wouldn't bail her out (she's a drug addict). Rita is penniless, and he doesn't do anything for her, either. It will be interesting to see if he left his kid anthing iin the will (she's one of eight).

I had hoped he would play Chris Christopherson in the 1993 revival of "Anna Christie," but Rip Torn did it instead,

Johnny Mathis best sleep with one eye open tonight, lest the Grim Reaper pays him a visit on his 89th Birthday (tomorrow - Sept 30).

"Sunday Morning Coming Down"

At least for this now happy recovering alcoholic/addict, I don't know of any other song that comes so close to accurately capturing that particular loneliness and isolation of a hangover Sunday.

I've experienced and felt everything Kristofferson describes in that song, including how smelling certain foods cooking can be so nostalgic.

Forgot to thank r23 for posting SMCD.

His biggest contribution to mankind was cowriting Me and Bobby McGee.

He was a hot man. RIP

As much as Cher milked that Native American angle when it was fashionable to do so, there is only one in that clip at r30 - Rita Coolidge.

Beautiful man. This is how I pictured America men when I grew up.

So leathery and unattractive - there, I said it!

R59/Della, that’s my favorite KK song.

Here he is with Johnny Cash, who is one of the few who successfully performed the song with conviction.

It’s a great song, encapsulating the sad realization many of us have made that the party’s over.

Yum!

Legend! RIP.

Rita Coolidge was gorgeous and fucked a who’s who of early seventies musicians.

She’s had a rough life, though.

Her warm, smooth voice made an interesting contrast to Kristofferson’s gravelly one.

That was great, r67.

I'd never seen that before.

Thanks again.

R70 She had great hair.

F&F OP for improper and disrespectful thread caption.

He had a hot ass but he couldn't live forever!

[quote]DEAD TO ME, OP!

Sorry about your Asperger's.

Has Babs commented yet?

[quote]Didn't he date Janis Joplin?

They seem to have hooked up shortly before she died. He was on coke, she was on heroin, and the details are fuzzy. He said he didn't hear her cover of "Bobby McGee" until a producer played it for him after she died; he listened to it several times, then said he could never listen to it again.

My grandfather loved his music.

or Jane Fonda R76 who like Babs also worked with Redford, James Caan, Yves Montand, Michael Sarrazin, George Segal, Jeff Bridges and Kris

I await Isabelle Huppert's statement.

[Quote] um, he's third, Drake was second.

OMFG DRAKE IS DEAD???

I always get him mixed up with Jeff Bridges

He was a terrific singer-songwriter, the acting was something he dabbled in. Also a strong activist over the years, for many progressive causes. A Rhodes scholar to boot, a real American original.

It's a shame that the Kennedy Center didn't see fit to fit him in somehow, before he died, as it's been known he's had dementia for while now. It's hard for the older, white, country-folk guys to see the nod in recent years- I'm hopeful Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman will see some love (for the Byrds) before they both go, as well as Neil Young (Canadien, but hugely influential on American music).

This one really hurt.

His fights with Barbra and Jon Peters on the set of ASIB were legendary.

Beautiful man. RIP

[quote] I had hoped he would play Chris Christopherson in the 1993 revival of "Anna Christie," but Rip Torn did it instead,

For a second I got Rip Torn confused with Rip Taylor, and thought, "That must have been SOME production!"

[quote] He’s actually not officially dead until there’s a DEAD TO ME thread, so I’m still reserving comment.—S. Dey

Two unfunny things in one post.

I’m glad he died instead of “passed away” on little wings sailing toward heaven!

"A Star is Born" might have worked better if Barbra had agreed to wear a Rita Coolidge style wig.

I knew a drug addict who was very fond of him.

He was wrongly diagnosed as having dementia. He was more recently confirmed to suffering from Lyme's disease instead.

My favorite of his songs - Blame it on the Stones.

Rita deserves pop culture icon status for her cover of Boz Scaggs' We're All Alone

Gorgeous, Rhodes Scholar, helicopter pilot, college athlete, talented songwriter. What a life.

ABC Thursday Night Special with Geraldo

70s schlock overload!

But the guys look good.

Of all the amazing things he accomplished, I'll fondly remember when he told Toby Keith to go fuck himself.

“Don’t ‘What?’ me, boy! You heard the question. You just don’t like the answer.” He paused just long enough to get a full chest of air. “I asked, ‘Have you ever served your country?’ The answer is, no, you have not. Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man’s life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not. So shut the fuck up!” I could feel his body pulsing with anger next to me. “You don’t know what the hell you are talking about!”

R96 Thanks for reminding me about that. It was told in an article by Ethan Hawke who was there and wrote first hand about what he witnessed. Kristofferson later on said that he didn't recall that incident or saying that, but Kristofferson was already having short term memory by then, so I'm inclined to believe what Hawke wrote.

R76

Barbra's official statement on her FB page:

[quote]The first time I saw Kris performing at the Troubadour club in L.A. I knew he was something special. Barefoot and strumming his guitar, he seemed like the perfect choice for a script I was developing, which eventually became A Star Is Born. In the movie, Kris and I sang the song I’d written for the film’s main love theme, “Evergreen." For my latest concert in 2019 at London’s Hyde Park, I asked Kris to join me on-stage to sing our other A Star Is Born duet, “Lost Inside Of You.” He was as charming as ever, and the audience showered him with applause. It was a joy seeing him receive the recognition and love he so richly deserved. My thoughts go to Kris’ wife, Lisa who I know supported him in every way possible.

"If it sounds country, that's what it is. It's a country song."

Side one of the compilation album Songs of Kristofferson was one of my favorite records in 1977. Since someone already posted "Sunday Morning Coming Down," I'll post this.

First J.D. Souther. Now Kris Kristofferson. Who's on third?

Robert Zimmerman?

I hope it's not Linda (unless she's decided it's time).

R61, you could say he "co-wrote" Me and Bobby McGee but he did the lion's share.

"Fred Foster shares the writing credit, as Kristofferson wrote the song based on a suggestion from Foster."

Also, I read that he was working in Nashville, as a janitor I think, after telling his mother he wanted just one year to see if he could make it as a songwriter. In the building, he happened to hear Bob Dylan singing - I forgot the song - but after he heard Dylan, it occurred to him that he could be a singer as well as songwriter. I mean if that guy could do it...

It was while he was working as a janitor at Columbia Studios that he met Johnny Cash.

Wasn’t Elvis Babs first choice for A Star Is Born but colonel Parker fucked it up?

I'm glad it was Kris and not Elvis. Have you seen any of Elvis' films?

I also loved Kris in "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea" with Sarah Miles (1976). Based on a wonderful eerie story by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.

R105 Indeed he was. The Colonel wanted Elvis to get top billing over Streisand, and Streisand wouldn't hear of it. The Colonel told Elvis to walk away from the offer if he's not getting top billing - and he did.

(For the record, Mick Jagger was also considered after Elvis - he was the first choice to star opposite Cher when the film was first presented to her in 1975, before Barbra got her hands on it. Photos were taken of Jagger and Streisand together - some floating on the internet these days - and they didn't photograph well. They didn't look like a 'couple' in any of them. Streisand dropped Jagger, and went with KK.)

R106 The movie and soundtrack album did very well with KK. But with Elvis ? It would've done 10 times better - with legions of Presley fans (who are not necessarily Barbra's) making sales soar at the box office and record stores.

Then Elvis dies eight months after release ? My God, can you imagine the resurgence in sales at the record store, and at the box office ? By August, 1977 ASIB was still hanging on at a small amount of second run theaters and drive-ins. The studio would have had to re-release the film to first-run theaters by the following weekend, and start all over again - to a phenomenal box office.

I think Elvis has the potential to be a good actor and it would’ve been poignant at that time since his career was at a similar point as John Norman Maines was. Colonel Parker also screwed up what was to be his film debut a role in the rainmaker with Katharine Hepburn.

*had the potential. Elvis was very upset about how Parker handed the star is born negotiations. Parker wanted $1 million, and a cut of the film. I think Streisand offered $500k and a smaller cut of the profits. Elvis really wanted to do it and had Parker not been involved he would’ve been agreeable to Streisands offer.

Evergreen would’ve made a nice duet between the two of them.

Kristofferson was deeply embarrassed by the playboy spread he did with Sarah miles to promote their film and claimed he was drunk when he did it.

Damn, I didn't know about the Playboy spread! I'll have to go looking for it.

[quote]Kristofferson was deeply embarrassed by the playboy spread he did with Sarah miles to promote their film and claimed he was drunk when he did it.

When wasn't he drunk? Or at least hung over?

He said he was "mostly sober" by 1976 because a doctor had warned him that his liver was "the size of a football."

Interesting person

I attended the same college as Kris, and used to see him at alumni weekends. He was a helluva nice guy, and really interesting to sit down and chat with. He wasn't hung up on his celebrity status in the slightest, and always preferred to be barefoot and in jeans -usually with his guitar in hand.

Rest in peace, dude.

The photo spread with Sarah Miles for Sailor is allegedly what led Rita to file for divorce. There are a couple of photos where it looks as if he's eating her pussy. His face is right there.

Drunk History about the time Kris stole a helicoptor and landed on Johnny Cash's lawn. He refused to leave until Johnny listened to his song.

Johnny claimed Kris had a beer in his hand as he drove the helicoptor.

First thing I thought of was reference to him in Taxi Driver.

Willie is the last Highwayman.

Just watched Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Great movie, great job by him.

Seems like a piece of shit, all things considered.

Oh well.

Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)

Verificatia of sizemeat?

R120 and it was one of his first acting roles. The interactions between him and Tommy are priceless.

I've heard his name my entire life, but I really could not name a single song or movie he's done.

[quote]I've heard his name my entire life, but I really could not name a single song or movie he's done.

Prepare yourself for the eldergays hissing at you about A Star Is Born.

It was a drag he was in so many B film/TV projects.

I guess 8 kids is a motivator for a paycheck ....even if you do have all the songwriting royalties.

the good thing is nobody saw or remembered them.

He got cast with Merchant/Ivory in 1998 / anyone see this?

I never imagined him as a dad:

"Kristofferson had eight children from his three marriages: two from his first marriage to Fran Beer; one from his second marriage to Rita Coolidge and five from his marriage to his third wife, Lisa (née Meyers) Kristofferson."

r128 Gross

Willie Nelson has 8 kids, as well. The youngest is 34. Willie's 91. So, he was 57 when he had the youngest.

I never realized he was in this video.

r130 Gross

Kris appeared in the craptastic video for Barbra's craptastic "Left In the Dark Again," an overwrought ballad from Jim Steinman. So bad I've always loved it.

Willie just endorsed Kamala the other day. Love him.

I have to be honest.....I touched myself thinking of him. What a man.

Kris on Letterman.

You can barely hear him on his duet with Streisand on Evergreen. She sings right over him or her voices amped over him.

Doesn't he have several minutes of singing by himself on 'Evergreen'?

* I mean a few seconds - not several minutes

Evergreen from A Star us Born

R107, Mick Jagger was NEVER considered for A Star is Born. That was simply a bullshit name drop.

And for this I'll rewatch his movie with Cheryl Ladd, "Millennium"

He had nothing to do with his adult daughter from his marriage to Rita. She is a drug addict and mentally ill woman living in Ashville, N.C. and portraying herself as a psychic and healer. Flat broke, had her kids taken away from her, etc. Was not welcome at his Hawaii mansion that he shared with his third wife.

That's sad r143. Rita lives these days in Tallahassee, her original hometown. She's not broke or homeless as some have said, she lives down the road from a friend of mine there.

This is one of KK's best songs, interpreted by the great Waylon Jennings. I've posted the live version here because I prefer it, apologies for the older grainy video. There aren't many truly American icons like Waylon, Cash and KK left anymore.

He treated Joplin like shit. Good riddance.

^ Tell us more, r145.

Poor Janis. She said on Dick Cavett's show (or somewhere) that they called her "Pig Face" in high school. She was going back to her reunion when she was on Dick's show - and said, "So I'm going back" with an "I'll show you" sort of smile.

She did ok for a plain girl - though Kris called her "pretty" in one of his interviews after she died. She also had Leonard Cohen at the Chelsea Hotel and he said in the song, about Janis and himself, "And clenching your fist for the ones like us, who are oppressed by the figures of beaut; you fixed yourself, you said, "Well, never mind, we are ugly but we have the music."

Didn't she have a thing with Jim Morrison? (speaking of figures of beauty).

What a dame. I knew a woman who was in Janis' class in high school, and despite all her fame, this woman said, "She could have done so well if she'd just behaved." (this was a Fundy - Janis grew up in Texas - Port Arthur - and Janis' family attended a fundie church too.) Such is the strangeness of the South.

Actually, he didn't, liar R145, you dumb cunt.

Hmm, R21. I question that.

I bet those mean girls were seething with jealousy when they heard Janis fucked Kris Kristofferson.

Why can't more men be like Kris? Intelligent, talented, principled, hot as fuck?

It pains me that I'll never love a man like him.

He must have been fantastic in bed. Did any of his previous lovers kiss and tell? I only skimmed this post, so apologies if it's been discussed ad nauseum.

R1 and r2, They're ALL that old now.

80+: Fonda. Valli. Dylan. Ringo. Sir Paul. Rod. Tom Jones. Page. Daltrey. Diana. Dionne. Petula. Etc.

R82 I have a lot of admiration for Jeff Bridges as well. They both share the same vibe.