11 minute read
Kris Kristofferson: Rebel With Rhythm by Terry Alexander
Songwriter, soldier, scholar, and star—Kris Kristoferson blazed his own trail from helicopter cockpits to country stages, building a lasting legacy of fearless creativity.
Kris Krisofferson was no one trick pony and made quite a name for himself as an American songwriter, singer, and actor. He was even one of the pioneering voices of the outlaw movement in country music. During his lifetime, Kristofferson’s influence impacted many people.
Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann and Lars Henry Kristofferson, an Air Force General. The couple welcomed the birth of their first child and named him Kristopher. He attended school and graduated from San Mateo High School in Texas in 1954.
At eighteen years old, Kristofferson won a short story contest sponsored by The Atlantic Monthly. His stories Gone are the Days and The Rock were published in the magazine. Kris attended Pomona College and participated in boxing, rugby, football and track and field. He was featured in the March 1958 issue of Sports Illustrated for his achievements in college athletics.
After Kristofferson graduated from Pomona with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1958, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford. There he studied at Merton College and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Philosophy Degree in English Literature.
Kris married Francis Mavia Beer in 1961, and they had two children together. He joined the army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant and received training as a helicopter pilot at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He later attended Ranger Training and was stationed in West Germany with the Eighth Infantry Division. In 1965, he was assigned to teach English Literature at West Point.
Kris had wanted a billet as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam but was assigned the teaching duties instead. The thought of lesson plans and assigned curriculum terrified him. He made the decision to leave the Army and pursue a career in songwriting. Seeing his actions as a rejection of what they stood for, his parents disowned him. His mother didn’t speak to him for twenty-five years.
Kristofferson moved his family to Nashville where he worked at several odd jobs while struggling for success in the music industry. He worked as a helicopter pilot for Petroleum Helicopters International. At this job, Kristofferson would work a week in Louisiana flying and writing songs and then he would return to Nashville for a week pitching his songs. He wrote “Help me Make it Through the Night” and “Bobby McGee” while on an oil platform near Lafayette. Amidst Kris’s search to find his place in the music industry, he and Mavia divorced in 1968.
One of Kristofferson’s more unorthodox attempts to get noticed was when he landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s front lawn to get the singer to look at one of his songs. Cash wasn’t home at the time, but he did look at one of Kristofferson’s songs. Johnny Cash later recorded “Sunday Morning Coming Down” in 1970. It won Song of the Year at the 1971 Country Music Association Awards. That same year Janis Joplin scored a number one hit with “Me and Bobby McGee” that she recorded on her album Pearl prior to her death. Anne Murray scored a hit with “Help Me Make It Through the Night” in 1971. The song won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
Kristofferson’s success in the songwriting industry was followed up with his acting debut in 1971. He appeared in The Last Movie, a film directed by Dennis Hopper. It was filmed in Peru and was a film about the aftereffects of a movie film crew after the film is finished and how the locals reacted and returned to normal. In 1972, he appeared with Gene Hackman in the movie Cisco Pike.
Kristofferson made his first of many westerns in 1973. It was also the first of three films he made with director Sam Peckinpah. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, retold the legend of Billy the Kid. Kris played Billy opposite James Coburn as Pat Garrett. Several old western stars also appeared in the film. Kris was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance.
A second marriage followed in 1973, when Kristofferson married Rita Coolidge. The couple had one child together. They won a Grammy that same year for Best Country Performance for a Duo or Group for the song “From the Bottle to the Bottom” and then won the same award in 1975 for the song “Lover Please.”
In 1974, Kristofferson appeared as a biker in the Sam Peckinpah contemporary western Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. The movie starred Warren Oates as a hood given a special assignment to prove that Alfredo Garcia was indeed dead. He had to transport his severed head to his boss.
Kristofferson’s first acting accolade came when he won a Golden Globe Award for Best New Talent for his appearance with Barbara Streisand in the 1976 film A Star is Born. The following year, he was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The last film that Kris made with Sam Peckinpah was in 1978. The movie, Convoy, co-starred Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine. According to rumors, Peckinpah was about to get fired from the film and Kris told the producers that if they fired Sam, he was going to leave the film. The producers reluctantly agreed to keep Sam. Peckinpah later told Kris. “You son-of-bitch, what have you done? I was out of this shit, and now I’m right back in it.”
In 1979, Kristofferson appeared as Abner Lait in the mini-series Freedom Road. Muhammed Ali made his acting debut in this feature. The series also starred Ron O’Neal and Alfrie Woodward. A former slave and union soldier became a United States Senator after the Civil War. The series didn’t fare well in the ratings.
Kris played Sheriff James Averill in the 1980 film, Heaven’s Gate. In this retelling of the Johnson County War, the sheriff of a small Wyoming town tried to protect the small farmer and rancher from the large cattle barons. The movie was a box office flop and cost Kris his Hollywood A-list status. In fact, he was nominated for a Razzie award for his performance. He also divorced Rita Coolidge in 1980.
Two years later, in 1982, Kristofferson returned to music and joined Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Brenda Lee on the double album A Winning Hand. Kris married for the third time on February 19, 1983 when he wed Lisa Marie Meyers. They had five children together. In 1984, he formed the singing group the Highwaymen, along with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Waylon Jennings. The title song was the single of the year in 1985. Kristofferson was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame that same year.
The next Kristofferson western was the 1986 TV movie, The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James. Kris starred as Jesse James with Johnny Cash playing his older brother Frank. The film also featured a cameo appearance by Willie Nelson as General Jo Shelby. He also appeared in the remake of the John Wayne classic Stagecoach in 1986. Kris played the Ringo Kid, an escapee from prison who was trying to get to Lordsburg to get revenge on the men that killed his brother. The film also starred Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and a special appearance by Lash Larue. The movie won a Bronze Wrangler Western Heritage Award for Fictional Television Drama from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In 1988, Kris received high praise when he appeared in the HBO TV western film, The Tracker. Kris starred as Noble Adams, a renowned tracker who had retired and was enjoying his days with his younger wife. He was called back into service to track Red Jack Stillwell and kill him or bring him to justice.
Kristofferson followed with another TV movie appearing with Willie Nelson in Pair of Aces. In this contemporary western, Kris played Rip Metcalf, a Texas Ranger who must team up with a thief to investigate a serial killer who was targeting cheerleaders. The movie was the final film appearance of Western movie icon Lash LaRue. Kris reprised the role of Rip Metcalf in the TV movie Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind in 1991. Bill Bixby directed the film which again starred Willie Nelson. In this follow up film, a gambler, a Texas Ranger, and an FBI agent teamed up to investigate a series of vigilante murders.
The first half of the 1990s saw more acting roles for Kris to appear in. He played Jerico Adams in Miracle in the Wilderness, a 1991 TV movie. Kristofferson appeared in the 1993 modern western movie Paper Hearts. He was back on the small screen playing a man named Destiny in the 1994 TV movie Sodbusters. The following year, Kris was the Preacher in 1995’s Pharaoh’s Army. Kris made his first acting role as a president in the TV movie Tad in 1995. He played President Abraham Lincoln in this story of the president’s life in the White House during the Civil War and his murder by John Wilkes Booth.
The last half of the ‘90s saw Kristofferson continuing to star in movies and television. In 1996, he played Charlie Wade in the movie Lone Star. From 1997 to 1999, Kris was the narrator for the TV series Dead Man’s Gun, an anthology series that told the stories of different people who encountered the special weapon. Two for Texas was a TV movie Kristofferson made with Scott Bairstow in 1998, which won a Bronze Wrangler Western Heritage Award for Best Television Drama. Finally rounding out the decade, he shared the screen with Willie Nelson again in the 1999 TV movie The Long Kill. The two starred as aging gunfighters who reform their old gang to avenge the murder of a former member.
Not slowing down, Kristofferson moved into the new century with plenty of acting roles. In 2000, he played Sgt. Sam Winchester in the short film Comanche, and followed it up in 2001 with the movie Wooly Boys, a modern-day comedy/western.
Accolades soon followed for Kris. He received the Veteran of the Year Award at the 2003 American Veterans Awards Ceremony, and he was awarded a Golden Boot for his work in Westerns that same year. Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004. In November 2009, he was named a BMI Icon.
Kris was back on the screen and played Sheppard Graves in the 2010 western The Last Rites of Ransom Pride. In 2014, Kris was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the music industry. His skills as an actor were back on display when he played President Andrew Jackson in the 2015 mini-series Texas Rising. The mini-series won a Bronze Wrangler Western Heritage Award for Best Television Drama.
Kristofferson’s screen performing career came to a close with a pair of movies. A 2016 western, Traded, and the 2017 film Hickok. Three years later, Kris performed his final concert in Fort Pierce, Florida on February 5, 2020. He retired from performing after the event.
Kris Kristofferson died at his home in Hano, Hawaii of an undisclosed cause on September 28, 2024. He was eighty-eight years old. His long career and numerous awards cemented him as one of the greatest songwriters, singers, and actors of our time.
Terry Alexander and his wife, Phyllis, live on a small farm near Porum, Oklahoma. They have three children, thirteen grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. If you see him at a conference, though, don’t let him convince you to take part in one of his trivia games—he’ll stump you every time.
