He also crossed over into acting, including a Golden Globe Award-winning turn alongside Barbra Streisand in 1976’s A Star Is Born and roles in Planet of the Apes and the Blade trilogy.
“Kris Kristofferson believed to his core that creativity is God-given, and that those who ignore or deflect such a holy gift are doomed to failure and unhappiness,” wrote Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young after the legendary wordsmith’s passing.
“He preached that a life of the mind gives voice to the soul, and then he created a body of work that gave voice not only to his soul but to ours.”
Kris Kristofferson Excelled at Pretty Much Everything
Born June 22, 1936, to a U.S. Air Force major general father, Kris Kristofferson seemed destined for his own military career. He composed his first song at age 11.
“I think I made it up while I was raking manure,” he told the Canadian music outlet Exclaim in 2009. “It was just an attempt to write the opposite of a love song.”
The family settled in San Mateo, California, in time for Kristofferson’s high school years. Excelling at both English and sports, he studied literature at Pomona College in Claremont, California, after graduation.
He also participated in football, rugby, and ran track and field. In fact, his athletic prowess landed Kristofferson on the pages of Sports Illustrated.
After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in English literature, Kristofferson headed across the pond to study at England’s prestigious Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. Studying the work of 18th-century poet William Blake, he considered writing a novel until rock n’ roll arrived in the United Kingdom, shifting his attention to songwriting instead.
His Military Career and the Move to Nashville
After completing his Oxford studies in 1960, Kris Kristofferson fulfilled his father’s wishes by commissioning as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. When not training as a helicopter pilot, he continued to focus on music, forming a band and writing still more songs.
In 1965, he turned down an assignment teaching English literature at West Point in favor of moving to Nashville and pursuing a living as a songwriter — much to his father’s chagrin.
However, Kristofferson was happy to trade his high-ranking military station for janitorial work at Columbia Records, which gave him access to recording sessions by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and more.
“He Changed Everything”
After more than four years of scrapping in Nashville, things took an upward turn for Kris Kristofferson when Johnny Cash took his song “Sunday Morning Coming Down” to the top of the country charts.
Later, his songwriting hero Roger Miller recorded another of his compositions, “Me and Bobby McGee” — although Janis Joplin’s version, released shortly after her death of a h*roin overdose, is by far the more famous rendition.
“You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris, because he changed everything,” said Bob Dylan.
[RELATED: 4 Kris Kristofferson Lyrics That Still Stop Us in Our Tracks]
Throughout it all, Kristofferson remained remarkably humble, telling journalist Mikal Gilmore, “Every time I look at a picture of Willie [Nelson] and me and John and Waylon [Jennings], I find it amazing that they let the janitor in there.”