Harry Dean Stanton
routine takes a turn towards the profound. Quite an appropriate piece to leave us on.
What many gen-exers will remember him for however, will be his role as Jack Walsh, father to Molly Ringwald’s Andi Walsh in the popular Brat Pack film, Pretty in Pink. As an out-of-work middle class man who has spent several years not really coping with the grief of his wife leaving him and his teenage daughter, he fumbles through the rites of passage as his daughter approaches the end of high school – a girl from the poorer side of the tracks who finds herself the love interest of one of the popular (and rich) kids.
The roles are somewhat reversed through much of the film. She is the one getting him up in the morning, and on occasion when he does make an effort to get things up and going, he has lost track of who his daughter has become (making eggs for her breakfast only to learn that she hasn’t eaten them for years, finding himself seated at the table to eat them).
Part of the beauty of his appearance on screen (most definitely in this role) was that he always seemed slightly “wrung out” – not overly strong or powerful, yet you felt his slight exasperation with life. He was easy to watch, and when his daughter’s frustration with his inability to move beyond his wife’s departure led through the clumsy phases of feeling stuck and sad, to an explosive argument where he is made to face the reality that his wife is not coming back.
As Jack Walsh, Harry Dean Stanton perfectly captured the realm of people trapped by personal trauma, unable to move beyond a loss, paralysed by circumstances they can no longer change, and the micromovements that a person makes to venture forth.
Watching him clean up his act, and even go to the awkward trouble and expense of locating a second-hand prom dress for his (rather pouty, but lovable) daughter, showed a single-parent father making moves to learn to care for his daughter long before dads were seen in that role.
Although he spent most of the film somewhat baffled by the energy, the great divide and the classist perceptions related to his daughter’s experience, much of the hope felt towards the end of the film is connected to the beginning of his reconnection with the world, sans wife - a single-parent father figuring out life.
Molly Ringwald’s loving commentary to Entertainment Tonight upon learning of the death of her on-screen dad sums up his appeal, “Having the chance to work with Harry Dean has been a highlight of my career. In everything he touched, Harry radiated soulfulness and complete authenticity,” Ringwald said, “I will miss him.” (etonline.com)
Harry Dean Stanton brought the everyman to the big and small screen. Those are the stars that, while they don’t shine as bright, allow all of the stars around them to shine just a little brighter.