Dead at 91.
September 15, 2017 4:41 PM   Subscribe

Harry Dean Stanton died peacefully Friday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in L.A. The legendary actor's career spanned more than 6 decades. His credits also include "Repo Man," "Cool Hand Luke," "Paris, Texas," "Alien," "Wild at Heart" and "Twin Peaks."

Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, to Ersel (Moberly), a cook, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a barber and tobacco farmer. Stanton served as a cook in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was on board an LST during the Battle of Okinawa. He then returned to the University of Kentucky to appear in a production of "Pygmalion", before heading out to California and honing his craft at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse. Stanton then toured around the United States with a male choir, worked in children's theater, and then headed back to California. His first role on screen was in the tepid movie Tomahawk Trail (1957), but he was quickly noticed and appeared regularly in minor roles as cowboys and soldiers through the late 1950s and early 1960s. His star continued to rise and he received better roles in which he could showcase his laid-back style, such as in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Dillinger (1973), The Godfather: Part II (1974), and in Alien (1979). It was around this time that Stanton came to the attention of director Wim Wenders, who cast him in his finest role yet as Travis in the moving Paris, Texas (1984). Next indie director Alex Cox gave Stanton a role that really brought him to the forefront, in the quirky cult film Repo Man (1984).

Stanton was now heavily in demand, and his unique look got him cast as everything from a suburban father in the mainstream Pretty in Pink (1986) to a soft-hearted, but ill-fated, private investigator in Wild at Heart (1990) and a crazy yet cunning scientist in Escape from New York (1981). Apart from his film performances, Stanton is also an accomplished musician, and "The Harry Dean Stanton Band" and their unique spin on mariachi music have been playing together for well over a decade. They have toured internationally to rave reviews. Stanton became a cult figure of cinema and music and when Debbie Harry sang the lyric "I want to dance with Harry Dean..." in her 1990s hit "I Want That Man", she was talking about him.


As he moved into the time in his life when most other people would be calling it a day, Harry Dean Stanton has remained consistently active on screen, most recently appearing in films including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Green Mile (1999) and The Man Who Cried (2000). A true gem amongst character actors, and with an on screen presence capable of adding that something extra to any production.(IMDB)
posted by shockingbluamp (155 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by mollymillions at 4:43 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


Wow. I have no idea what to say about such an amazing career, so I'll just give a completely inadequate .
posted by St. Hubbins at 4:43 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


Always intense.
posted by Aznable at 4:44 PM on September 15, 2017 [18 favorites]


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posted by dogstoevski at 4:45 PM on September 15, 2017


Damn. Was always glad to see him in something. Anything really. Will be missed.
posted by Golem XIV at 4:46 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


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posted by Melismata at 4:47 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by Obscure Reference at 4:48 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


Damn. Always a good face to see in a movie.

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posted by Thorzdad at 4:48 PM on September 15, 2017


Harry Dean Stanton on Why "Anybody Can Be An Actor" [YouTube]

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posted by Fizz at 4:49 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


One of the few actors who improved everything he was in, so far as I can tell. Safe home.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:49 PM on September 15, 2017 [9 favorites]


So many great roles.
Watching Repo Man tonight.
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posted by parki at 4:49 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


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posted by mikelieman at 4:52 PM on September 15, 2017


In Twin Peaks: The Return, he played a man who knew that he was coming to the end of his life and tried to show as much human kindness as he could to whomever he could. Seems the perfect role to end on.

So since he died after the series aired and didn't get an in-memoriam credit like so many others did, I shall add:

"In Memory of Harry Dean Stanton"
posted by Laura Palmer's Cold Dead Kiss at 4:55 PM on September 15, 2017 [48 favorites]


Wolverines!

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posted by Beholder at 4:55 PM on September 15, 2017 [6 favorites]


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Right
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:56 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]




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posted by Joey Michaels at 4:57 PM on September 15, 2017


Harry Dean as Roman Grant singing Big Rock Candy Mountain from Big Love.
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posted by dannyboybell at 5:00 PM on September 15, 2017 [4 favorites]


Harry Dean Stanton was my dad's favorite actor. (Dad took my brother and me to see Repo Man on its release because he couldn't find a babysitter.) I hope my dad meets him in the hereafter.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:00 PM on September 15, 2017 [24 favorites]


Wow. I just mainlined the last season of Twin Peaks last weekend, and was struck once again by how wonderful he always manages to be in everything he's in. Laid back but with such a commanding presence, world weary and sad without being pitiful, seemingly at peace with his place in life. Even when he played the skeevy Warren Jeffs character in Big Love he did it with grace and charm. Not many people could pull that off.

This statement of his on dying was linked from one of the TP fanfare threads:
I'm 87 years old...I only eat so I can smoke and stay alive. The only fear I have is how long consciousness is gonna hang on after my body goes. I just hope there's nothing. Like there was before I was born. I'm not really into religion, they're all macrocosms of the ego. When man began to think he was a separate person with a separate soul, it created a violent situation.

The void, the concept of nothingness, is terrifying to most people on the planet. And I get anxiety attacks myself. I know the fear of that void. You have to learn to die before you die. You give up, surrender to the void, to nothingness.

Anybody else you've interviewed bring these things up? Hang on, I gotta take this call... Hey, brother. That's great, man. Yeah, I'm being interviewed... We're talking about nothing. I've got him well-steeped in nothing right now. He's stopped asking questions.
Rest in peace, Harry.
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posted by phunniemee at 5:03 PM on September 15, 2017 [95 favorites]






. He's one of those people who you don't think would ever die

The central scene from Paris, Texas.
posted by octothorpe at 5:06 PM on September 15, 2017 [8 favorites]


Often in these sorts of threads about an older celebrity I'll be surprised that the person died because I kind of assumed they had died a few years ago. Harry Dean Stanton is the opposite. I was surprised because I thought he was at most about 75. Makes me realize what a part of the cinematic fabric he's been for me all these years.

I loved him in Twin Peaks, but the most recent and memorable thing I saw him in was Big Love--he was PERFECT as the FLDS sect leader. I'd like to think he and Bill Paxton are palling around in the afterlife somewhere.

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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 5:07 PM on September 15, 2017 [10 favorites]


Harry Dean Stanton was my first favorite actor.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 5:08 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


Aw, shit.

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posted by chococat at 5:09 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by condour75 at 5:09 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by philip-random at 5:11 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by cazoo at 5:13 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by Monkeymoo at 5:14 PM on September 15, 2017


I know it's not his most famous role but I love his performance as Paul in The Last Temptation of Christ.

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posted by the duck by the oboe at 5:15 PM on September 15, 2017 [9 favorites]


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posted by Grandysaur at 5:15 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 5:16 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by droplet at 5:17 PM on September 15, 2017


"Son, you've got a condition."

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posted by Guy Smiley at 5:19 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


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posted by biffa at 5:21 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by jim in austin at 5:23 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by Sphinx at 5:24 PM on September 15, 2017


This statement of his on dying was linked from one of the TP fanfare threads

That's from a gem of an Esquire interview he gave in 2008. It's titled "What I've Learned", and his koan-like utterances could be outtakes from Repo Man, e.g. "There's no answer to the state of Kentucky. Again, you're looking for an answer and there is none."
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:25 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


He was kinda raggedy and wild.
posted by run"monty at 5:27 PM on September 15, 2017 [4 favorites]


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posted by theodolite at 5:27 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by Kitteh at 5:28 PM on September 15, 2017


Every living legend eventually becomes just a legend.

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posted by infinitewindow at 5:28 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


Let us note here Roger Ebert's Stanton-Walsh Rule: "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad. An exception was CHATTAHOOCHEE (1990), starring Walsh. Stanton's record is still intact."

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posted by clockwork at 5:29 PM on September 15, 2017 [34 favorites]


First time I was able to see "Alien" on the big screen it was an old old print at the fancy Lowes theatre in Jersey City. Such an old print, the sound cut out at the end of reels, including while Mr Stanton was searching for the cat. It wasn't until an audience member started yelling out "Jones" to fill in the gaps that we all were able to relax and not worry we wouldn't get to finish the show.
posted by Brainy at 5:31 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


gypsy






dildo









punks










🕳
posted by Chichibio at 5:31 PM on September 15, 2017 [9 favorites]


Harry Dean Stanton was my first favorite actor.

Red Dawn was a... dumb movie in many respects, but this scene was the one that gave me nightmares.

But, he made his mark with me there, and became "that guy". It's sort of something that "stars" get all the credit, when with some regularity, it's guys like this with their workmanlike craft who really make movies shine.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 5:32 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'd like to think he and Bill Paxton are palling around in the afterlife somewhere.
"Fucking xenomorphs, right?"
posted by Brainy at 5:34 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


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posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 5:39 PM on September 15, 2017


Don't call him Harold.

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posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:43 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


It wasn't a big part but I loved him as the blind preacher in "Wise Blood". Loved him in general. Nobody did Southern Gothic like HDS
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 5:44 PM on September 15, 2017 [3 favorites]


Stanton's record is still intact.

Ebert also admitted that Dream a Little Dream was "a clear violation".
posted by Etrigan at 5:47 PM on September 15, 2017 [3 favorites]


If you haven't seen the documentary on Partly Fiction, see it. See it now. It's like getting to hang out with him for a bit.

I hope as I age, I will be even a fraction as graceful and cool as Stanton. It's a tall order.
posted by entropicamericana at 5:48 PM on September 15, 2017 [3 favorites]


After the shitshow of 2016, I am enjoying the plethora of 2017 obit threads that are a celebration of a long life well lived.

I mourn his passing, but I don't begrudge him taking the final bow.

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posted by Slap*Happy at 5:48 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


I've always loved The Straight Story. David Lynch joint, for Disney. Go figure. Rest in nothingness, sir.
posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 5:53 PM on September 15, 2017 [10 favorites]


"Goddamn dipshit Rodriguez gypsy dildo punks!"
posted by porn in the woods at 5:54 PM on September 15, 2017 [4 favorites]


..... ..... ..... .....
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That would be one for every year he appeared in a movie or on TV between 1956 and 2017. The only year he missed was 1964.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 5:55 PM on September 15, 2017 [4 favorites]


Aw, man!

What a career!
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:56 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by TedW at 5:56 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by genehack at 5:59 PM on September 15, 2017


Repo man and Harry Dean Stanton spend their time getting into tense situations.

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posted by mephron at 6:00 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


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posted by ckape at 6:01 PM on September 15, 2017


I've been trying to convince my coworkers of the genius of Repo Man this week, and he was a giant part of why that movie was so enjoyable, or, for that matter, why so many things he was in were that much better.

Hell, he was a giant. Period.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:02 PM on September 15, 2017 [7 favorites]


I remember a lecturer "deconstructing" Paris, Texas and declaring it to be about the primacy of the "natural" family. Whereas I always saw it to be about someone coming back from the wilderness to try to do what was right. From then on, I always held HDS to be the patron saint of trying to what was right.

I actually think that's the best that any of us can do.
posted by Grangousier at 6:03 PM on September 15, 2017 [6 favorites]


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posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:04 PM on September 15, 2017


From the link: Stanton was close friends with Nicholson — Stanton was best man at Nicholson’s 1962 wedding, and they lived together for more than two years after Nicholson’s divorce — and the character actor’s first step in emerging from obscurity was a part written by Nicholson for him in the 1966 Western “Ride the Whirlwind.” Stanton played the leader of an outlaw gang; Nicholson told him to “let the wardrobe do the acting and just play yourself.” “After Jack said that, my whole approach to acting opened up,” Stanton told Entertainment Weekly.
posted by Brian B. at 6:04 PM on September 15, 2017 [12 favorites]


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posted by homunculus at 6:10 PM on September 15, 2017


Oh, damn. What a legacy.

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posted by rtha at 6:11 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by mfoight at 6:15 PM on September 15, 2017


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Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand.
posted by vrakatar at 6:18 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by Hairy Lobster at 6:29 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by askmehow at 6:33 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by double bubble at 6:37 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by lapolla at 6:37 PM on September 15, 2017


Somewhere in Twin Peaks: The Return, there's a moment where Lynch just sets the camera on Stanton, who, alone in the scene, strums a guitar and sings in a melancholy way, looking very, very, old -- not in a way that is sad or tragic, just simply very, very old. For me it was one of the most moving scenes in the whole 18 hour deal.

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posted by /\/\/\/ at 6:37 PM on September 15, 2017 [8 favorites]


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Godspeed to you, Mr. Stanton. You were a fucking legend, man.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 6:51 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by Mittenz at 6:56 PM on September 15, 2017


Flippin general telephone …

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posted by scruss at 6:58 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by mustard seeds at 7:00 PM on September 15, 2017


He had all night, every night, and he used it.

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posted by Pope Guilty at 7:01 PM on September 15, 2017


Somewhere in Twin Peaks: The Return, there's a moment where Lynch just sets the camera on Stanton, who, alone in the scene, strums a guitar and sings in a melancholy way, looking very, very, old -- not in a way that is sad or tragic, just simply very, very old. For me it was one of the most moving scenes in the whole 18 hour deal.

oh yeah. the way he sang Red River Valley did seem tragic to me in the way that songs like that do when someone sings them who knows how. The whole season he was so old and worn and almost frail -- not always to look at, not every second, but if you knew he was 90 -- and then through the entire unfolding of the story, person after person came to him, not to take care of him the way frail old men sometimes demand to your heart that you take care of them, but to be taken care of. and he would. Don't sell your blood to pay the rent, he would say, and Yes sir, the other guy would say. who on earth could sound like a father figure and a christ figure all in one while playing a landlord? the greatest of all great men.

he was also the greatest male singer in American history.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:02 PM on September 15, 2017 [10 favorites]


Aww...

Damn.

Grant Hart made me sad, but HDS makes me want to cry.

I will miss him and his laconic charm.

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posted by evilDoug at 7:03 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


Brett in "Alien". I mean, that role alone, among the others performed by others, gave us so much. Hawaiian shirts in space. Cats, beloved by spacefarers. Prop replica merch (the hat). And little of that is inherent in his performance, or was visible to us in the audience. Other actors in that film also brought us important shit, man. But how many of us have had, or held, or heard of tiger-stripe orange boycats called "Jones," or "Jonesy"?

Later in our lives as I realized what a fucking badass the man was, probably circa "Paris, Texas", my appreciation of Brett deepened. It seems reasonably likely that without HDS, I would not have any aloha shirts, and possibly no interest in crossing the fiction-reality barrier, which means, I suppose, that Harry's performances were more intellectually powerful for me than anything Berthold Brecht or Antonin Artaud ever wrote or performed.

Rest in (P)
posted by mwhybark at 7:07 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


"Never broke into a car, never hotwired a car. Never broke into a truck. 'I shall not cause harm to any vehicle nor the personal contents thereof, nor through inaction let the personal contents thereof come to harm' It's what I call the Repo Code, kid!"

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posted by Halloween Jack at 7:07 PM on September 15, 2017 [8 favorites]


Harry Dean Stanton was and will always be one of my favorite actors ever. A friend once convinced me to watch Cockfighter because he described it as "the film equivalent of Harry Dean Stanton's face." It totally was. And I mean, how many actors would that work with? There really was no one else like him.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 7:18 PM on September 15, 2017 [3 favorites]


☁🚗☁
posted by Ogre Lawless at 7:25 PM on September 15, 2017 [6 favorites]


Plate of.......

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Aw, fuck it.
posted by Samizdata at 7:30 PM on September 15, 2017


He introduced 'Paris, Texas' in Toronto. Before the screening he said that he was happy to be in the film, and then he sang a capella a few verses of the Mexican ballad that plays in a background scene. It was funny because just before he started singing he took a deep breath, paused, and then handed away the microphone.
posted by ovvl at 7:47 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


If Blue Eyes Crying doesn't make you too, there's something wrong with you.
posted by mikeand1 at 7:51 PM on September 15, 2017 [3 favorites]


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posted by Songdog at 7:52 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by Wobbuffet at 7:53 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:55 PM on September 15, 2017


On the shoot for 1976’s “The Missouri Breaks,” starring Marlon Brando and Nicholson, Stanton made a long-term friend in Brando when he courageously dissuaded the increasingly eccentric actor from making a foolish choice in his performance.

The Missouri Breaks features Brando as an Irish bounty hunter, occasionally in drag, murdering horse rustlers with a mace/harpoon crucifix of the actor's own invention, so I'm curious as to what constituted a foolish choice.
posted by zamboni at 7:58 PM on September 15, 2017 [17 favorites]


Brett in "Alien". I mean, that role alone, among the others performed by others, gave us so much.

Right.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:02 PM on September 15, 2017 [11 favorites]


This is sad.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:12 PM on September 15, 2017


In 2005, I attended SXSW for Interactive and Film. The Luke Wilson written and directed film, "The Wendell Baker Story," was having its premiere in an older theater with a balcony in downtown Austin. I went and found a seat in the balcony right by the curving stairs on one side of the theater. I sat through the entire movie, steam coming out of my ears by the end because it was such a bad film. They had announced that Luke and one of the actors would be doing Q&A after the film. So as soon as the movie ended, I bolted down those curving stairs, the first patron to make it into the lobby, almost running down Owen Wilson in my haste to flee. I couldn't think of anything remotely nice to say to him so I kept moving toward the front doors, wanting to be out of there and away from that movie. As I opened the door, I noticed an older smaller man standing by the front window eating popcorn. It was Harry Dean Stanton. I stopped and told him that I had enjoyed his acting in everything I had ever seen him in. He thanked me. I left, but as I was walking down the sidewalk I kept telling myself to go back and talk to him some more, but I chickened out. At least I had done that much.
posted by perhapses at 8:12 PM on September 15, 2017 [7 favorites]


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posted by killy willy at 8:13 PM on September 15, 2017


Well into my twenties I had an old yellow 3 drawer dresser that had a sticker of Brett from Alien on it, with a speech bubble I had drawn in ballpoint pen when I was much too young to be watching movies like Alien, containing the word "Right." Wish I still had it.
posted by rodlymight at 8:26 PM on September 15, 2017 [7 favorites]


I think we ough to discuss the bonus situation.
posted by Artw at 8:35 PM on September 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


My favorite, the first episode of David Lynch's Hotel Room: "Tricks"
posted by rock swoon has no past at 8:38 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by LobsterMitten at 8:48 PM on September 15, 2017


"I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of falling."

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posted by under_petticoat_rule at 9:06 PM on September 15, 2017


Back to the old freezerino.
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posted by ikahime at 9:24 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by Unioncat at 9:32 PM on September 15, 2017


oh no
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:41 PM on September 15, 2017


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posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:05 PM on September 15, 2017


Somewhere in Twin Peaks: The Return, there's a moment where Lynch just sets the camera on Stanton, who, alone in the scene, strums a guitar and sings in a melancholy way, looking very, very, old -- not in a way that is sad or tragic, just simply very, very old. For me it was one of the most moving scenes in the whole 18 hour deal.

When he looks straight into the camera after that, and deadpans a fourth wall breaking line, nobody else could have pulled that off. But he was just so real that when he talked directly to you through the screen it felt natural. It didn't even feel like Lynch weirdness, or some jarring awkward thing, though when you describe it, it should - I mean, three seasons into a show, a character just talks to the audience, just one line, and it never happens again. But it was Harry Dean Stanton, so it just worked.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:06 PM on September 15, 2017 [4 favorites]


A life in pictures – Harry Dean Stanton (Grauniad)

Found myself chatting with Mr Stanton at the crowded bar of Le Dome on Sunset one night in 1991. Imagine, drinking with Mr Paris, Texas! Thanks for everything, Harry Dean Stanton, RIP.

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posted by Mister Bijou at 10:15 PM on September 15, 2017 [4 favorites]


He was in so many things I adore, I don't know where to even begin.

Bye, Brain. Your life was indeed intense. And you made mine better.

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posted by dbiedny at 10:21 PM on September 15, 2017


Stanton was best man at Nicholson’s 1962 wedding, and they lived together for more than two years after Nicholson’s divorce

Seems to me I read that factoid once before, along with the somehow perfect addition that their mutual friend Dennis Hopper was a frequent visitor/house guest.

I am preparing to set my time machine's coordinates. If you could not have fun with those three guys fifty years ago, I don't even want to know you.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:08 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by rhizome at 11:19 PM on September 15, 2017


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One of Stanton's most recent roles was a 2012 cameo in The Avengers as a security guard totally unfazed by the sight a giant green naked Hulk falling out of the sky. A deleted scene, extraneous to the story, still kinda wish it'd been left in just for Stanton's deadpan.
posted by nicebookrack at 11:44 PM on September 15, 2017 [6 favorites]


Jesus, I had no idea he was that old, I just thought he looked like heck because he always sort of looked like heck. 91 is a good run. Let us rejoice.

Also, screw Ebert. Dream a Little Dream has Stanton AND Jason Robards and is a hell of a lot better than One Magic Christmas, the holiday movie that will make you want to stick your head into an operating fireplace. I remember the CBC aired it every Christmas for at least half a decade, it's how I learned That Guy!'s name.

A billion years ago my mom got me a VHS copy of Dillinger. What a cast: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis, Cloris Leachman, Richard Dreyfuss... Written & directed by John Milius. HDS doesn't get as much to do in it as I would like - really, we didn't need that much Michelle Phillips - but maybe I'll pop it into the machine this weekend.

One of Stanton's most recent roles was a 2012 cameo in The Avengers as a security guard

"Mr. Stanton! Mr. Stanton! Who are you smoking?"

I know, "smoking isn't cool," but there's something delightful about a person who doesn't give a shit about getting a little bit of ash on the red carpet.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:32 AM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


"I knew these people..."
posted by mikeand1 at 12:52 AM on September 16, 2017


Look at those assholes, ordinary fucking people. I hate 'em.

Repo Man was my whole life at the time.

Always intense, Bud, always intense.

HDS was anything but ordinary.
posted by chavenet at 1:54 AM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


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posted by Faintdreams at 2:33 AM on September 16, 2017


What WesleyWills said about Wise Blood. If you haven't seen it, it's John Houston adapting Flannery O'Connor's masterwork, with Ned Beatty and Harry Dean Stanton and Huston himself acting. What the hell do you want?

Sample dialogue: "The only thing that matters is that Jesus was a liar! My church is the Church of Christ Without Christ. Where the blind can't see, and the lame don't walk, and them that's dead stays that way!"
posted by msalt at 3:06 AM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


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posted by heatvision at 3:23 AM on September 16, 2017


I always hoped that Grant would become the Harry Dean Stanton of music--the old guy who shows up and makes things a little more interesting; the guy who has the stories; the one who's seen everything. Seems appropriate they'd leave the party together.
posted by pxe2000 at 3:47 AM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by filtergik at 3:56 AM on September 16, 2017


Rosie of the wonderful Diane Podcast described Harry Dean Stanton's face as his soul is really close to the surface of his face and that has absolutely stuck with me. What a fantastic actor. He'll be missed.
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posted by harujion at 5:02 AM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]


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posted by Beardman at 6:00 AM on September 16, 2017


Sheila O'Malley (at Rogerebert.com):
He had a face like a medieval wood cut—angular, cheeks caved in, a twisted thin-lipped mouth and deep-set huge eyes. The face was haunting because of what it expressed but more because of what it withheld. Loneliness was etched into his face. Or maybe it wasn't loneliness. Maybe it was something else. There was a blankness at the heart of many of his best roles, an almost emptied-out space filled with echoes, reflections, and stillness, making him the perfect projector screen for audience dreams and associations. What was happening behind those eyes? Grief? Endurance? Philosophy? It could be all simultaneously. He made sense staggering through the desert; he made sense on the back of a horse; he made sense in a prison yard; he made sense cruising the nighttime streets in a beat-up gas guzzler. He could be a cowboy, a conman, or a lost romantic soul. No wonder his career lasted over 60 years with no interruption. His friend and colleague Sam Shepard said of him, "He's one of those actors who knows that his face is the story."
posted by octothorpe at 6:16 AM on September 16, 2017


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posted by fourpotatoes at 6:31 AM on September 16, 2017


Even as a punk rocker in the '80s, I was excited to see Repo Man because it starred "that guy from Alien." I never saw performance of his I didn't enjoy, and his cameo in The Avengers was one of the highlights of the movie.
posted by Gelatin at 6:31 AM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


a sticker of Brett from Alien on it, with a speech bubble I had drawn in ballpoint pen when I was much too young to be watching movies like Alien, containing the word "Right." Wish I still had it.

The hell with just still having it, I demand that you go back in time and scan this thing so that we can make t-shirts of it.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:57 AM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


One of the comments from the tribute I posted above says:
If there's a single fault in "Alien," and there's really not, it's that the roles were so incredibly realized, performed by such rare talent, you would have liked to have seen the film focus on them rather than the title creature. Such was the fascination of the colorful characters, none more so than Mr. Stanton's Brett and Yaphet Kotto's Parker. Hell, you could have made an entire movie about those two.
I could totally see that as a comedy series: "Two eccentric engineers fight with management and aliens as they work below-decks on a space freighter. "
posted by octothorpe at 7:37 AM on September 16, 2017 [9 favorites]


His performance on Big Love was supremely creepy.

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posted by aerotive at 7:38 AM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Apparently he was even good on Two and a Half Men. I don't know that Ebert's aforementioned rule could have withstood his appearance in one of Steven Seagal's lesser works, but the point that others have made here that he always elevated anything he was in stands.

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posted by The Card Cheat at 7:40 AM on September 16, 2017


There is this almost-last movie called "Lucky" that I want to see, after seeing a preview of him as a 90-something year old awesome dude who everyone thought was awesome.

And I thought -- that's some serious acting! no way HD Stanton is that old!

Dang.

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posted by allthinky at 7:52 AM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


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posted by Ravneson at 7:56 AM on September 16, 2017


he was the king of the character actors. in an industry role that usually ends up relegated to "you know, that one guy from…", everybody knows harry dean stanton. and he deserved it in spades.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:08 AM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by oneironaut at 8:48 AM on September 16, 2017


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posted by theora55 at 8:58 AM on September 16, 2017


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posted by doctornemo at 12:00 PM on September 16, 2017


I was fortunate enough to attend Lexington KY's annual Harry Dean Stanton Fest in 2014 - the year HDS actually showed up! He was gracious, while seeming a bit perplexed and exasperated by the whole concept.
posted by memewit at 12:08 PM on September 16, 2017


MetaFilter: a bit perplexed and exasperated by the whole concept.
posted by hippybear at 12:12 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


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posted by Splunge at 12:16 PM on September 16, 2017


My favourite actor. Starting with Repo Man but then everything else as well. I hope he gets his final ride in a Chevy Malibu instead of a hearse.
posted by ZipRibbons at 12:17 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


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posted by but no cigar at 12:19 PM on September 16, 2017


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posted by pjmoy at 1:20 PM on September 16, 2017


Saw the trailer for Lucky just a few days ago, it seems the movie has made the rounds in the festival circuit for now, I hope it finds larger distribution.

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posted by _dario at 3:44 PM on September 16, 2017


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posted by Token Meme at 4:45 PM on September 16, 2017


HDS was probably my first "Hey, I know him from somewhere"-actor in Alien. Great character, and he's probably made every character he's played better.

A couple of days ago, I was very pleasantly surprised to see him play a lively dirty old man in Alpha Dog (2006). Wow, he was 80 when he played that part.

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posted by porpoise at 8:58 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


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posted by univac at 10:04 PM on September 16, 2017


"See, that motherfucker only thinks I don't know what's what's going on, like... as soon as I find that Chevy I'm going indie, gonna buy my self a tow truck, a couple of pit bulls and run a yard. Sit around and watch everybody else do the work for a while."

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posted by coolxcool=rad at 4:36 AM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


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posted by detachd at 3:27 PM on September 17, 2017


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posted by bjgeiger at 5:44 PM on September 17, 2017


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posted by gudrun at 7:07 PM on September 17, 2017


I'm pretty sure HDS's appearance in Young Doctors in Love puts the lie to his half of the Stanton-Walsh rule.

The first role I remember seeing him in was probably as Brain in Escape From New York, followed by his short appearance in Red Dawn. I didn't see Alien until much later and I've, shamefully, never seen Repo Man. But the man was a towering talent and amazing in almost every role.

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posted by hanov3r at 1:16 PM on September 18, 2017


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Harry Dean Stanton sings Danny Boy. (Great eyes.)

Thanks for all the wonderful work, good sir.
posted by On the Corner at 2:03 AM on September 19, 2017


Harry Dean Stanton sings Danny Boy.

The man could sing. For more, check out the great documentary Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2012)

[Er, don't tell anyone but the docu's on the interweb at RARBG]
posted by Mister Bijou at 2:22 AM on September 19, 2017


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posted by blankspot at 5:18 AM on September 19, 2017


You know, it might just be an effect of the Trumpian timewarping effect but I was pondering this morning how long it had been since Stanton died... three months? Four months? No, just barely two weeks.

In any event, it occurred to me that earlier this year, his castmate from Alien, John Hurt, also passed on. In the movie, Kane (played by Hurt) is the first casualty, followed by Stanton's laconic engineer, Parker. Then I considered the next fatalities in the movie and checked: Tom Skerritt, who played Dallas, turned 84 last month, and Ian Holm (Ash) turned 86 about three weeks ago. I hope they are both well.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:53 AM on September 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Oops: Brett, not Parker. Right.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:09 AM on September 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


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