Harry Dean Stanton

Infobox actor


caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1926|7|14
birthplace = West Irvine, Kentucky

Harry Dean Stanton (born July 14, 1926) is an American actor.

Biography

Early life

Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, the son of Ersel (née Moberly), a hair dresser, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a tobacco farmer and barber.cite news|last=Carter|first=Tom|coauthors=|title=MORE THAN JUST A FAMILIAR FACE KENTUCKY-BORN ACTOR TRYING TO ALTER IMAGE|pages=|publisher=Lexington Herald Leader|date=1985-09-05|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LH&s_site=kentucky&p_multi=LH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB73807C418BD45&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|accessdate=2007-12-10] [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/84/Harry-Dean-Stanton.html Harry Dean Stanton Biography (1926-) ] ] His parents divorced when Stanton was in high school and later re-married. He has two younger brothers, Archie and Ralph, and a younger half-brother Stan. Stanton attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, where he studied journalism and radio arts. He also studied at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. Stanton is a veteran of World War II. Harry is also known to be a big fan of rock n roll music, his favourites including Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Lance Lazer.

Career

Stanton has appeared in both indie and cult films ("Two-Lane Blacktop", "Cockfighter", "Escape from New York", "Repo Man"), as well as many mainstream Hollywood productions, including "Cool Hand Luke", "The Godfather Part II", "Alien", "Red Dawn", "Pretty in Pink", and "The Green Mile". He has been a favorite actor of Sam Peckinpah, John Milius, David Lynch, and Monte Hellman, and is also close friends with Francis Ford Coppola. His principal lead role was in Wim Wenders's film "Paris, Texas". He had a very small part (blink and you'll miss it) in 1962's "How The West Was Won" as one of Charlie Gant's (Eli Wallach) gang.

Stanton is a favorite of film critic Roger Ebert who has said that "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." However Ebert later admitted that "Dream a Little Dream" (1989), in which Stanton appeared, was a "clear violation" of this rule. [Citation | last = Ebert | first = Roger | author-link = Roger Ebert
publication-date = 1989-03-03 | year= 1989 | title= Dream A Little Dream | newspaper = Chicago Sun Times | url= http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19890303/REVIEWS/903030301/1023 | accessdate= 2007-10-05] In the DVD extra interview of "Repo Man", Stanton deeply reviews his outlook on life in a way that is considered "Tao".

Stanton has also occasionally toured nightclubs as a singer/guitarist, playing mostly country-inflected cover tunes. He appeared in the Dwight Yoakam video, "Sorry You Asked". The role that Stanton is often associated with, the role of Travis in "Paris, Texas", was originally to go to Sam Shepard at the urging of Wim Wenders.

He also plays Roman Grant, the manipulative leader/prophet of a polygamous sect of Mormonism in the HBO television series "Big Love".

In an episode of season two of the series "Two and a Half Men" Harry Dean Stanton played a senile version of himself amongst other stars playing themselves, Sean Penn and Elvis Costello who attended Charlie Harper's (portrayed by Charlie Sheen), the series' main character, support group.

He also participated in the video for Bob Dylan's Dreaming of You

Filmography

*"How the West Was Won" (1962) uncredited
*"Ride in the Whirlwind" (1966)
*"The Hostage" (1966)
*"Cool Hand Luke" (Billed as Dean Stanton) (1967)
*"Kelly's Heroes" (1970)
*"Two-Lane Blacktop" (1971)
*"Cisco Pike" (Billed as H. D. Stanton) (1972)
*"Dillinger" (1973)
*"Up in Smoke" (1973)
*"Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" (1973)
*"Where the Lilies Bloom" (1973)
*"The Godfather Part II" (1974)
*"Cockfighter" (1974)
*"Farewell My Lovely" (1975)
*"The Missouri Breaks" (1976)
*"Renaldo and Clara" (1978)
*"Straight Time" (1978)
*"Wise Blood" (1979)
*"The Rose" (1979)
*"Alien" (1979)
*"Deathwatch (La Mort en Direct) (1980)
*"The Black Marble" (1980)
*"Private Benjamin" (1980)
*"UFOria" (1981)
*"Escape from New York" (1981)
*"Young Doctors in Love" (1982)
*"Christine" (1983)
*"Paris, Texas" (1984)
*"Red Dawn" (1984)
*"Repo Man" (1984)
*"The Care Bears Movie" (1985)
*"One Magic Christmas" (1985)
*"Fool for Love" (1985)
*"Pretty in Pink" (1986)
*"The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988)
*"Stars and Bars" (1988)
*"Wild at Heart" (1990)
*"" (1992)
*"Hotel Room" (1992)
*"Never Talk to Strangers" (1995)
*"The Band" - The Authorized Video Biography (1995; as narrator)
*"Down Periscope" (1996)
*"She's So Lovely" (1997)
*"Fire Down Below" (1997)
*"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998)
*"The Mighty" (1998)
*"The Straight Story" (1999)
*"The Green Mile" (1999)
*"The Pledge" (2001)
*"The Man Who Cried" (2001)
*"Sonny" (2002)
*"Straight to Hell": The Alex Cox Collection (2003)
*"The Big Bounce" (2004)
*"The Wendell Baker Story" (2005)
*"Alien Autopsy" (2006)
*"You, Me and Dupree" (2006), (uncredited)
*"Inland Empire" (2006)
*"Alpha Dog" (2007)
*"The Open Road" (2008)

References

External links

*imdb name|name=Harry Dean Stanton|id=0001765

Persondata
NAME= Stanton, Harry Dean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1926-7-14
PLACE OF BIRTH= West Irvine, Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=