Biography

Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, to Ersel (Moberly), a cook, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a barber and tobacco farmer. He lived in Lexington, Kentucky and graduated from Lafayette Senior High School with the class of 1944. Drafted into the Navy, he served as a cook in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was on board an LST during the Battle of Okinawa. He then returned to the University of Kentucky to appear in a production of "Pygmalion", before heading out to California and honing his craft at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse. Stanton then toured around the United States with a male choir, worked in children's theater, and then headed back to California.

His first role on screen was in the tepid movie Tomahawk Trail (1957), but he was quickly noticed and appeared regularly in minor roles as cowboys and soldiers through the late 1950s and early 1960s. His star continued to rise and he received better roles in which he could showcase his laid-back style, such as in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Dillinger (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), and in Alien (1979). It was around this time that Stanton came to the attention of director Wim Wenders, who cast him in his finest role yet as Travis in the moving Paris, Texas (1984). Next indie director Alex Cox gave Stanton a role that brought him to the forefront, in the quirky cult film Repo Man (1984).

Stanton was now heavily in demand, and his unique look got him cast as everything from a suburban father in the mainstream Pretty in Pink (1986) to a soft-hearted, but ill-fated, private investigator in Wild at Heart (1990) and a crazy yet cunning scientist in Escape from New York (1981). Apart from his film performances, he was also an accomplished musician, and "The Harry Dean Stanton Band" and their unique spin on mariachi music played together for well over a decade. They toured internationally. He became a cult figure of cinema and music and when Debbie Harry sang the lyric, "I want to dance with Harry Dean..." in her 1990s hit "I Want That Man", she was talking about him. Stanton remained consistently active on screen, lastly appearing in films including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Green Mile (1999) and The Man Who Cried (2000).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: firehouse44

Prior to 1971, he was credited in films and on TV as Dean Stanton so as to avoid any confusion with character actor Harry Stanton, both of whom would appear together in a 1969 episode of Petticoat Junction (1963). Harry Dean Stanton later co-starred in The Green Mile (1999), which has a character named Dean Stanton.

Had a small role as a jail guard in the 1978 Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong film Up in Smoke (1978), but his scenes were cut.

Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 45th Venice International Film Festival in 1988.

As of 2014, had appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: How the West Was Won (1962), The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Green Mile (1999). Of those, only The Godfather Part II (1974) won in the category.

Was in a relationship with Rebecca De Mornay from 1981 to 1983.

He has appeared in two films which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival: Paris, Texas (1984) and Wild at Heart (1990).

I've been rather like a cat. I'm finicky and I've done a lot of things, and made career choices, missed meetings and so forth that would have made me a much bigger actor, I think. But, by the same token, that would have demanded more of my time, too.

I've always been a singer; it's not new to me. I've been singing since I was a child. I've always had a guitar and a harmonica and I played drums in high school -- in a marching band, anyway. I like different kinds of music and I'm exploring them: ballads, blues, blues-rock, country rock, whatever. I'm just focusing on singing a lot so I can get good at it. But don't say I play "country music." It's just another label, like "character actor." One term simply can't say it all.

Early on the whole point of acting was mostly getting a job and then the experience of doing it. But when I did Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) with Jack Nicholson in 1965 I discovered there was more to it than that. It was a key film for me because of that. Jack told me not to do anything, just let the wardrobe do the acting. It was a great revelation that became an acting principle. To be rather than to do. You have to behave on screen as much as you do in real life. You don't kill anyone in life, but you understand the anger that may bring it about.

As a child, I felt rage against adults who didn't treat me as a person, adults that were brutalized themselves by having an angry, vindictive God watching them all the time. I come from a broken home and I realize it's the rule rather than the exception.

It's certainly not an ideal situation. I don't want to be whipping myself to the point where I have no joy in doing it, you know? But that has been a problem with too many artists -- too much pain and not enough joy. I want to be able to work and enjoy it more and it takes a lifetime to learn that. I'm enjoying it more and more; I'm learning that. Someone printed on a Thai temple, "How joyous I am now that I've learned there's no such thing as happiness." Pretty good, huh?

I've always felt as an outsider. I've been rebellious against any iconoclastic thing. It's true about the industry, but also about society as a whole. I don't blame anyone, but I think that society is negative in that people are terrified to be free. I was born on the edge of the mountains in Kentucky and now although I live in Hollywood I still feel more related to nature. It's an attitude. I have a pool, but it's to do laps in, not a status symbol.

[on his disdain for labels] When you label something, you dismiss it.

I learn about myself. There is no self. You learn you're not a self. You learn you're nothing. Ultimately. Hopefully.

[asked to describe himself] As nothing. There is no self...I'm big into Eastern concepts. The horror of life, the love of children, the whole phantasmagoria--it's all meaningless. Be still and see what happens. All of this unfolds perfectly, You've got to get beyond consciousness.

If I like the role, I'll just do it. I don't care how small it is. There are no small parts. You know that old saying, right? There are only small actors.