R.I.P. Harry Dean Stanton

6 Responses to R.I.P. Harry Dean Stanton

1. Todd Restler says:

   September 18, 2017 at 3:18 pm

   Wonderful tribute Sheila. What an amazing actor.

   I love this:
   “His friend and colleague Sam Shepard said of him, “He’s one of those actors who knows that his face is the story.” (I think the same could be said of Shepard!)

   And this is a great line: ” His career is Hollywood as Very Small Town.” I agree.

   The thing he added to every movie, to me, was texture. He had something about him that often made it seem like he WAS the character, rather than PLAYING the character. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it’s there. It always seemed like he’s already lived a whole life as his character before the events of the movie even start.

   Small, real small roles even, stick in the brain. The gas station owner in The Pledge. the Uncle in Alpha Dog. the Dad in Pretty in Pink. There was something so HUMAN about him, a complete lack of artifice. He will be greatly missed. RIP.

   Reply
   • sheila says:

     September 19, 2017 at 10:42 am

     Todd –

     // It always seemed like he’s already lived a whole life as his character before the events of the movie even start. //

     Absolutely! That’s what I was trying to say in the paragraph about Two-Lane Blacktop. He’s in the movie for 10 minutes. I still think about that character and wonder what happened to him. He’s still alive for me. It almost seems like Stanton strolls into a film from somewhere else – and then strolls out. I felt this way in Twin Peaks: the Return too. Almost 25 years ago, he was in Fire Walk With Me. Now here he is as the same guy – 25 years older – and he just steps right back into the continuum of that character.

     We were just talking about Pretty in Pink on Twitter and how wonderful he was in that. He so rarely played a father or a family man and he was just fantastic!

     and yes, The Pledge!! For me, that movie is about Mickey Rourke, primarily, and HDS – and both of them play glorified cameos!!

     Nobody like HDS. An original.

     Reply
     • sheila says:

       September 19, 2017 at 11:04 am

       FYI – left you a comment on that “August 2017 viewing diary” post … to continue our discussion there and not derail our Harry Dean Stanton discussion. :)

       Are you a Twin Peaks person?

       Reply
       • Todd Restler says:

         September 19, 2017 at 1:41 pm

         No although I am sure I would love it. Just never got into it.

         Reply
2. Jessie says:

   September 19, 2017 at 8:36 am

   Wonderful piece, thank you.

   Reply
   • sheila says:

     September 19, 2017 at 10:42 am

     Thank you Jessie!

     Reply

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