Saturday, September 16, 2017

Harry Dean Stanton, 1926-2017

Veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who got a career boost in late middle age when Wim Wenders cast him in Paris, Texas, died yesterday aged 91.

Stanton started his career in the 1950s, often being credited as just Dean Anderson (when he even did get a credit) in movies like The Proud Rebel and Cool Hand Luke. The 70s saw some bigger movies: The Godfather Part II, Kelly's Heroes, The Missouri Breaks, and Alien among others. But it was getting cast in Paris, Texas that really gave Stanton more prominence.

Stanton also did a lot of TV work, with the best known today proabably being the Mormon patriarch who supports polygamy in Big Love. But Stanton's IMDb page lists supporting roles everywhere in the 50s and 60s, including one on The Rifleman. I don't know if MeTV has the ability to change their schedule that quickly to run it this weekend, the way they did with Richard Anderson. But they had more time after Anderson's death and Anderson did multiple episodes of the show anyway.

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