Harry Dean Stanton
Born	July 14, 1926 (1926-07-14) (age 83) West Irvine, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–present

Harry Dean Stanton (born July 14, 1926) is an American actor of film and television.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] 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.^[1][2] 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 classic rock and roll, his favourites including Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

[edit] 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, Red Dawn, Pretty in Pink, Stephen King's Christine 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. He had a very small part in 1962's How The West Was Won as one of Charlie Gant's (Eli Wallach) gang.

His principal lead film role was in Wim Wenders' film Paris, Texas. This role of Travis, which he is often associated with, was originally to go to Sam Shepard at the urging of Wim Wenders.

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.^[3]

He is also remembered as the adult xenomorph's first victim in the blockbuster sci fi thriller Alien.

His television credits are extensive, including eight appearances between 1958 and 1968 on CBS's Gunsmoke and four on the network's Rawhide, as well as a cameo as himself on Two and a Half Men, alongside Sean Penn and Elvis Costello. He currently plays a leading role as Roman Grant, the manipulative leader/prophet of a polygamous sect in the HBO television series Big Love.

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", portrayed a cantina owner in a Ry Cooder video for "Get Rhythm" and participated in the video for Bob Dylan's Dreaming of You.

[edit] Filmography

• The Lawless Years, multiple episodes, NBC, 1961
• The Law and Mr. Jones, as Harry Walker in the episode "The Enemy", ABC, 1961
• How the West Was Won (1962) uncredited
• Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
• The Hostage (1966)
• Cool Hand Luke (Billed as Dean Stanton) (1967)
• The Mini-Skirt Mob (1968)
• Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
• Kelly's Heroes (Billed as Dean Stanton) (1970)
• Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
• Cisco Pike (Billed as H. D. Stanton) (1972)
• Dillinger (1973)
• Up in Smoke (1978)
• Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
• Where the Lilies Bloom (1974)
• 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)
• Terror in the Aisles (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)
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (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 Good Life (2007)
• The Open Road (2008)
• Big Love (HBO TV series) (2008/2009)
• Alice (2009)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Harry Dean Stanton at the Internet Movie Database

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