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Kris Kristofferson has died

Kris Kristofferson, the revered songwriter whose poetic lyrics transcended genre, has died at age 88.

A model student who earned the nickname “Straight Arrow,” he graduated from high school in San Mateo in 1954, and went on to study creative writing at Pomona College, winning several prizes in a short-story contest sponsored by Atlantic Monthly magazine. After his sophomore release, 1971’s The Silver Tongued Devil and I, sold more briskly, Kristofferson’s debut album was rereleased as Me & Bobby McGee, capitalizing on the success of the title song, a posthumous Number One pop hit for Janis Joplin. Of his later films, Kristofferson will perhaps be best remembered for his role as a sadistic sheriff in John Sayles’ 1996 masterful crime drama Lone Star, which was followed by appearances in the Blade trilogy and 1998’s A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, a fictionalized account of the life of From Here to Eternity author James Jones.

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