Kris Kristofferson, A Star Is Born Actor and Country Music Legend, Dead at 88

The AStarIsBorn  entertainment world has lost an icon.

Kris Kristofferson, a Grammy-winning country music singer-songwriter and actor who appeared in films such as Blade and the '70s version of A Star Is Born, has died. He was 88.

He passed away peacefully in his home in Maui, Hawaii Sept. 28, surrounded by family, they said in a statement obtained by E! News.

Kristofferson, a Texas native and former U.S. Army helicopter pilot, had begun recording music when he was a Rhodes scholar at the University of Oxford in the '50s and rose to fame as a singer-songwriter in the late '60s.

He enjoyed success with his own recorded singles such as "Why Me" and his and then-wife Rita Coolidge's songs “From the Bottle to the Bottom" and "Lover Please," the latter two of which earned the pair Grammys for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.

Kristofferson was also famous for writing hit singles made famous by other singers, such as "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," performed by Johnny Cash—his bandmate in the '80s supergroup the Highwaymen—and "Me and Bobby McGee," sung by then-girlfriend Janis Joplin and released in 1971, months after her death at 27.

In fact, "writer" was the occupation listed on Kristofferson's passport, The New York Times reported.

Kristofferson, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004, also starred in more than 70 movies and other acting projects from until he announced his retirement in 2021.

He appeared opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1976 musical film A Star Is Born—a remake of a 1937 flick on which the 2018 version starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper is also based.

Kristofferson and Streisand, who earned Golden Globes for their performances, reunited a few times over the years, including in 2019, when he joined the "Memory" singer onstage at a concert in London's Hyde Park.

Kristofferson was also known for roles in the Blade film trilogy in the '90s and early aughts, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Heaven's Gate and Lone Star.

Kristofferson is survived by his wife of over 40 years, Lisa Kristofferson, their sons, Jesse, Jody, Johnny and Blake and daughter Kelly Marie, his and Coolidge's daughter Casey, son Kris and daughter Tracy from his past marriage to Frances Beer, and seven grandchildren.

"We’re all so blessed for our time with him," they said in their statement. "Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all."