Character actor left indelible impression
HARRY DEAN STANTON
LOS ANGELES — Harry Dean Stanton, the craggyfaced character actor who became a cult favorite through his turns in “Paris, Texas,” ‘’Repo Man” and many other films and TV shows, died Friday at age 91.
Stanton died of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his agent, John S. Kelly, said.
Moviegoers, fellow actors and directors recognized that Stanton’s quirky characterizations could lift even the most ordinary script. He was loved around Hollywood, a drinker and smoker and straight talker with a million stories who palled around with Jack Nicholson and Kris Kristofferson and was a hero to such younger stars and brothers-in-partying as Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez.
Almost always cast as a crook, a codger, an eccentric or a loser, Stanton appeared in more than 200 movies and TV shows. A cult favorite since the ‘70s with roles in “Cockfighter,” ‘’Two-Lane Blacktop” and “Cisco Pike,” his more-famous credits ranged from the Oscar-winning epic “The Godfather Part II” to the sci-fi classic “Alien” to the teen flick “Pretty in Pink.”
By his mid-80s, the Lexington Film League in his native Kentucky had founded the Harry Dean Stanton Fest and Sophie Huber had made the documentary “Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction.” Recently, he reunited with director David Lynch on Showtime’s “Twin Peaks: The Return.” He also stars with Lynch in the upcoming film “Lucky.”
Stanton used music as an escape from his parents’ quarreling and his dad’s brutal treatment. He fronted his own band for years, playing western, Mexican, rock and pop standards in venues around Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. He performed in “Paris, Texas” and once recorded a duet with Bob Dylan.
Stanton served in the Navy during World War II. He never married, but he had a long relationship with actress Rebecca De Mornay, 35 years his junior.