By Cynthia Charlene Greason
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American country singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s.
Among his songwriting credits are “Me and Bobby McGee“, “For the Good Times“, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down“, and “Help Me Make It Through the Night“, all of which became hits for other artists. Kristofferson was also a member of the country music supergroup the Highwaymen. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
As an actor, Kristofferson was known for his roles in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Blume in Love (1973), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), A Star Is Born (1976) (which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), Convoy (1978), Heaven’s Gate (1980), Stagecoach (1986), Lone Star (1996), and the Blade film trilogy (1998–2004).
Kristoffer Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (née Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson, a U.S. Army Air Corps officer (later a U.S. Air Force major general). During Kristofferson’s childhood, his father encouraged him to pursue a military career.
Kristofferson moved around frequently as a youth because of his father’s military service, and the family settled in San Mateo, California.
In 1961, Kristofferson married his longtime girlfriend, Frances “Fran” Mavia Beer but they divorced in 1969. Kristofferson briefly dated Janis Joplin before her death in October 1970. His second marriage was to singer Rita Coolidge in 1973, ending in divorce by 1980. Kristofferson married Lisa Meyers in 1983.
Kristofferson and Meyers owned a home in Las Flores Canyon in Malibu, California, and maintained a residence in Hana, Hawaii, on the island of Maui. Kristofferson had eight children from his three marriages: two from his first marriage to Fran Beer; one from his second marriage to Rita Coolidge and five from his marriage to his third wife, Lisa (née Meyers) Kristofferson.
Kristofferson said that he would like the first three lines of Leonard Cohen‘s “Bird on the Wire” on his tombstone:
Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
Kristofferson died at his home in Maui on September 28, 2024, at the age of 88.
