FILE – Kris Kristofferson poses for a portrait in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 15, 1995.
(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) LOS ANGELES – Kris Kristofferson, the ragged country music star who wrote “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and later found fame as a leading man in such 1970s films as “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” “A Star is Born” and “Heaven’s Gate,” has died at the age of 88, his family said Sunday. Kristofferson died Saturday at his home in Maui, Hawaii, according to a statement from his family. No cause of death was given.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 28 at home,” the statement said. “We’re all so blessed for our time with him.
Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy .
Born in Brownsville, Texas, to a military family, Kristofferson moved around a lot as a child and attended Pomona College, where he excelled as an athlete and was also a Phi Beta Kappa. In 1958, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford in England. He started singing in England before joining the US Army, but later left the military and moved to Nashville to pursue his musical career.
His early success.
