Biography
A perpetually haggard character actor with hound-dog eyes and the rare ability to alternate between menace and earnest at a moment's notice, Harry Dean Stanton has proven one of the most enduring and endearing actors of his generation. From his early days riding the range in
Gunsmoke and
Rawhide to a poignant turn in
David Lynch's uncharacteristically sentimental drama
The Straight Story, Stanton can always be counted on to turn in a memorable performance no matter how small the role. A West Irvine, KY, native who served in World War II before returning stateside to attend the University of Kentucky, it was while appearing in a college production of Pygmalion that Stanton first began to realize his love for acting. Dropping out of school three years later to move to California and train at the Pasadena Playhouse, Stanton found himself in good company while training alongside such future greats as
Gene Hackman and
Robert Duvall. A stateside tour with the American Male Chorus and a stint in New York children's theater found Stanton continuing to hone his skills, and after packing his bags for Hollywood shortly thereafter, numerous television roles were quick to follow.
Billed Dean Stanton in his early years and often carrying the weight of the screen baddie, Stanton gunned down the best of them in numerous early Westerns before a soulful turn in
Cool Hand Luke showed that he was capable of much more. Though a role in
The Godfather Part II offered momentary cinematic redemption, it wasn't long before Stanton was back to his old antics in the 1976
Marlon Brando Western
The Missouri Breaks. After once again utilizing his musical talents as a country & western singer in
The Rose (1979) and meeting a gruesome demise in the sci-fi classic
Alien, roles in such popular early '80s efforts as
Private Benjamin,
Escape From New York, and
Christine began to gain Stanton growing recognition among mainstream film audiences; and then a trio of career-defining roles in the mid-'80s proved the windfall that would propel the rest of Stanton's career. Cast as a veteran repo man opposite
Emilio Estevez in director
Alex Cox's cult classic
Repo Man (1984), Stanton's hilarious, invigorated performance perfectly gelled with the offbeat sensibilities of the truly original tale involving punk-rockers, aliens, and a mysteriously omnipresent plate o' shrimp.
After sending his sons off into the mountains to fight communists in the jingoistic actioner
Red Dawn (also 1984) Stanton essayed what was perhaps his most dramatically demanding role to date in director
Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas. Cast as a broken man whose brother attempts to help him remember why he walked out on his family years before, Stanton's devastating performance provided the emotional core to what was perhaps one of the essential films of the 1980s. A subsequent role as
Molly Ringwald's character's perpetually unemployed father in 1986's
Pretty in Pink, while perhaps not quite as emotionally draining, offered a tender characterization that would forever hold him a place in the hearts of those raised on 1980s cinema. In 1988 Stanton essayed the role of Paul the Apostle in director
Martin Scorsese's controversial religious epic
The Last Temptation of Christ.
By the 1990s Stanton was a widely recognized icon of American cinema, and following memorably quirky roles as an eccentric patriarch in
Twister and a desperate private detective in
David Lynch's
Wild at Heart (both 1990), he settled into memorable roles in such efforts as
Against the Wall (1994),
Never Talk to Strangers (1995), and the sentimental drama
The Mighty (1998). In 1996, Stanton made news when he was pistol whipped by thieves who broke into his home and stole his car (which was eventually returned thanks to a tracking device). Having previously teamed with director Lynch earlier in the decade, fans were delighted at Stanton's poignant performance in 1999's
The Straight Story. Still going strong into the new millennium, Stanton could be spotted in such efforts as
The Pledge (2001; starring longtime friend and former roommate
Jack Nicholson),
Sonny (2002), and
The Big Bounce (2004). In addition to his acting career, Stanton can often be spotted around Hollywood performing with his band, The Harry Dean Stanton Band. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide