Blade Actor Kris Kristofferson Dies at 88

Blade and A Star Is Born actor Kris Kristofferson has passed away.

By Charlie Ridgely

Kris Kristofferson, a legend of both music and film, has passed away. The country legend and Academy Award nominee died this past Saturday at the age of 88, according to his family. He died at his home in Maui, Hawaii. "We're all so blessed for our time with him," the family said in a statement. "Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he's smiling down at us all."

For genre fans, Kristofferson was best known for his co-starring turn in 1998's Blade, which revolutionized the entire genre of comic book movie adaptations. Kristofferson played Whistler alongside Wesley Snipes' titular Blade, and he could go on to reprise his role in both Blade II and Blade: Trinity.

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(Photo:

Kristofferson as Whistler in Blade

- New Line Cinema)

Kristofferson's on-screen career began in 1971 with the release of a Dennis Hopper-directed film called The Last Movie and it spanned a total of five different decades. His final performance came in Ethan Hawke's 2018 Blaze, which told the story of songwriter Blaze Foley, a pioneer of the outlaw country movement that Kristofferson was such a monumental part of.

While comic and genre fans know Kristofferson for his turn as Whistler in the Blade movies, other film fans know him for some of his acclaimed films in the 1970s. He made audiences swoon when he starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Two years later, in 1976, he starred alongside Barbara Streishand in A Star Is Born.

Kristofferson's other film and TV credits include Convoy, Heaven's Gate, Big Top Pee-wee, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, Dolphin Tale, Joyful Noise, and He's Just Not That Into You. He also lent his voice to multiple video game projects, like Gun and Fallout: New Vegas.

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He earned his only Oscar nomination for the music he wrote for the 1984 film Songwriter. Kristofferson also starred in Songwriter, acting opposite fellow country legend Willie Nelson.

Kristofferson made his name in the world of country music in the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote songs like "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Help Me Make it Through the Night" for other artists, in addition to numerous hits he recorded himself. He was one of the faces of the outlaw country movement, which focused more on songwriting and creative freedom outside of the traditional labels and system in Nashville. He was one fourth of the group known as the Highwaymen, which also included fellow icons Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings.

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