A familiar, weathered and always welcome face in cinema, Harry Dean Stanton was one of the best character actors to grace the screen. He died on Friday at the age of 91.
Stanton was born in Irvine, Kentucky in 1926, heading to the University of Kentucky in Lexington where he studied journalism and radio arts and also started performing in theatre. Deciding between singing and actor, he chose acting hoping that he could eventually combine the two.
A veteran of World War II, Stanton served in the US Navy as a cook aboard a landing ship tank during the battle of Okinawa. After the conflict, he pursued acting, studying at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. He got his first small screen gig in Inner Sanctum in 1954 and would go on to debut in cinemas in 1957's Tomahawk Trail.
From there began a long, successful career in film and on TV; Stanton was the sort of actor who always stood out no matter the size of the part, and he appeared in a wide variety of movies and shows, including Paris, Texas, Cool Hand Luke Repo Man, Escape From New York, Two-Lane Blacktop, Alien, Alpha Dog, Pretty In Pink, The Green Mile and the original Red Dawn. TV-wise, he popped up on Big Love, Twin Peaks, Rawhide and many more.
Close friends with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Jack Nicholson, he was the best man at the latter's wedding in 1962. His final roles are yet to hit screens, as he's worked on Lucky and Frank & Ava, neither of which have UK release dates yet, though Lucky will screen at the BFI London Film Festival in October.