It’s Harry Dean Stanton’s birthday today.
I’m pretty sure my introduction to Harry Dean Stanton – whose birthday it is today – was as Molly Ringwald’s sad dad in Pretty in Pink (he made a huge impression on me). It wouldn’t be long after that – in a fit of Paul Newman obsession – that I saw Cool Hand Luke – realized it was the same guy as the one in Pretty in Pink, and then began a life time of catching up on his capacious body of work. Even he didn’t know how many movies he was in. He worked right up to the end and Lucky – his final film – came out after he died, a clear sign he was already living forever.
Here’s the tribute piece I wrote to Harry Dean Stanton over at Ebert when he died.
I hadn’t seen Lucky when I wrote the tribute, so I’m sad I couldn’t include it, but I did get to write about his performance in Twin Peaks: The Return, especially the astonishing moment where he looks up at the trees. It takes a lifetime to be that relaxed (in front of the camera or anywhere else.)
I am totally with you on HDS’s complete equanimity in that scene, but what I keep coming back to is the scene a few minutes later, when he approaches the grief-stricken mother, and is just WITH her. I’ve never seen anything like that on any screen.
Yes that was a stunner of a scene!
This is a late mention, but, do you remember him as Kiser Pease in “Where the Lilies Bloom” from 1974? The movie is sweet. He was also in “Big Love” he was fabulous in that series with Bill Paxton.
They just completed the HDS celebration in Lexington. Annual event around his birthday. Family in attendance this year at the Kentucky Theater downtown. When Sam Shepard was living on his small horse farm outside Midway, Harry Dean would come and visit him. Of course most of us local mere mortals never knew Sam was there. I like the thought of it though. Sam said that acting kept the horses fed.
KathyB – this is so wonderful! I love every sentence of your comment.
I had no idea this was a thing, and Lexington’s only about 3 hours away from my house. Disappointed to learn of it in the year of Covid but will definitely look into it next year.
Having seen Once Upon a Time in California an inordinate number of times over the past year, and having then spent even more time imagining what happened to the characters after the movie ended, I’ve decided that Brad Pitt’s character would have stumbled into a career similar to that of Harry Dean Stanton’s: the indelible, indispensable, inimitable character actor, who steals most movies through the sheer force of his screen presence, without ever seeming to break a sweat. (Pitt’s character would have gotten his start as an actor by being on set while his friend Rick Dalton was playing the lead for directors like Altman, a la George Segal and Elliot Gould, after receiving the blessing of New Hollywood via his unexpected friendship with his neighbor, Roman Polanski. Yes, I’ve thought about this too much.)
One of my favorite Stanton moments came in a likable little movie called UFOria, starring Cindy Williams. There’s a serious discussion going on and someone asks Harry what he thinks; Harry says, “Everyone needs to believe in something…and I believe I’ll have another drink.” Print can’t convey his delivery, but if you know his work, you can imagine how he said it.
Apologies for calling it Once Upon a Time in California. Every once in awhile my brain goes on walkabout.
California, Hollywood, same thing!
// Yes, I’ve thought about this too much. //
hahahaha I’ve thought about this so much too!
Have you read the novelization yet?? It’s a fascinating experience – and not at all what I expected.
I could definitely see Cliff moving into interesting character-actor territory – or someone like Ben Johnson, so laconic it’s almost like he’s not acting at all – but so real!
// Harry says, “Everyone needs to believe in something…and I believe I’ll have another drink.” //
Ha!!!
I’m debating whether I want to read the novelization or not. I love the movie so much, I don’t want the book to affect how I feel about the movie. On the other hand, the level of detail Tarantino would be able to provide in prose could be amazing. So I’m torn.
For me, the novelization just deepened the exploration of some of the things QT explored in the movie – it’s mostly about show business, and that whole world of B-actors and stuntmen. So It didn’t affect at all my feelings about the movie – although there were some surprises! Especially about Cliff’s taste in movies.