He walked out of the desert, so old but still young, lost but with purpose.
And that was just Harry Dean Stanton in 1984, in the dreamy-gloriousParis, Texasand the punk-trippyRepo Man.
If that was the last year he ever worked, Stanton would still be a film icon.
Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Instead, he worked longer than most people live.
Hes the title character in a new film,Lucky, which will be released in two weeks.
Hes gone, but hes staying.
Stanton was born in Irvine, Kentucky, and served in the Navy during World War II.
He had a career in television, in westerns and crime.
But he had a good rhythm for comedy, could make his dialogue sound almost improvised.
InCisco Pike, hes a proudly dissolving musician, grinning towards oblivion.
InStraight Time, hes driven to bank robbery out of suburban boredom.
But he made everyone offscreen seem phony, too, your friends, yourself.
Middle age brought glossier work, and trying to corral his whole legacy from here would be impossible.
(He tragically couldntEscape From New York.)
His brilliant work inParis, TexasandRepo Manproved he could do anything, make anything look original.
Frequent collaborator David Lynch often cast him as all of the above.
InTwin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Stantons oddly formal, casual, relaxed, manic.
He runs a trailer park where a dead woman lived, and death seems to linger all about him.
He genially offers coffee, A Cup of Good Morning America!
and seems unwilling or unable to say some dark secret of the universe.
See, Ive already gone places, Carl says, dragging on a circuit, staring blankly toward infinity.
I just want to stay where I am.
Stanton remained onscreen and would pop up for movie-stealing cameos.
(Ebert allowed that Walsh had violated the rule withChattahoochee.)
He inspired his own film festival,Kentuckys Harry Dean Stanton Fest.
In an official statement, he was said to be survived by family and friends who loved him.
He often seemed nonchalant about his own accomplishments.
Someday well all be gone, of course, but some things will survive.
