Kris Kristofferson was 'a walking contradiction,' a renegade and pilgrim surrounded by friends

LOS ANGELES (AP) — If Kris Kristofferson's life were fiction, it would feel a little implausible.

He was a Texas-born Golden Gloves boxer and star football player, a Rhodes Scholar and a helicopter-flying U.S. Army captain who walked away from a West Point faculty gig to briefly become a janitor on his way to becoming one of the greatest American singer-songwriters of the 20th century.

And, as if just for kicks along the way, he became a devilishly handsome major movie star who could play either a rugged outlaw or a romantic leading man.

Kristofferson, a father of eight children who was married to third wife Lisa Meyers for the last four decades of his life, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday at age 88, surrounded by family.

He had a master's degree in English from Oxford and could quote the poetry of William Blake from memory. One of his best songs, “The Pilgrim,” probably played on “The Pilgrim's Progress” from a even older English writer, John Bunyan. Kristofferson's title character could be a description of himself:

“He’s a walking contradiction partly truth and partly fiction, Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”

Though the “lonely” part certainly didn't apply. Kristofferson never lacked for friends, including heroes who became mentors and close companions, like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

While walking away from the Army, he swept floors and emptied ashtrays at Columbia Records in Nashville to get access to stars, including Cash.

He told the Associated Press in 2006 that he likely would not have had a career without the Man in Black, who would record the best-known version of Kristofferson's “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”

“He kind of took me under his wing before he cut any of my songs,” Kristofferson said. "He cut my first record that was record of the year. He put me on stage the first time.”

Kristofferson was a major performer and hitmaker in his own right, but never had the golden voice that some of his friends did.

Nelson used an entire album of Kristofferson songs to show his vocal mastery, and a few — including “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” — became lifelong live staples.

“There’s no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said in a 2009 awards show tribute. “Everything he writes is a standard.”

Kristofferson, more comfortably than anyone, straddled the worlds of classic country music and Baby Boomer hippie culture. Janis Joplin was another close friend, and her howling rendition of Kristofferson's “Me and Bobby McGee” would become a hit soon after her death in 1970. It was probably the best known version of any Kristofferson song, and he would use her arrangement of it when he played the song live.

Kristofferson also embraced kindred spirits of younger generations, like Sinead O'Connor.

A critic of the Roman Catholic Church well before allegations of sexual abuse were widely reported, O’Connor was loudly booed at a Madison Square Garden tribute to Bob Dylan in 1992, two weeks after ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II while appearing on “Saturday Night Live.”

Kristofferson would come out and walk her off stage in solidarity and solace. Years later, he recorded “Sister Sinead,” in which he wrote, “And maybe she’s crazy and maybe she ain’t, But so was Picasso and so were the saints.”

His leftist politics may have been the greatest of his "contradictions," coming from a country-singing Army veteran from Brownsville, Texas. He was a staunch supporter of Palestinians and made heated denunciations of many military actions in Central America and the Middle East from the stage, sometimes to the chagrin of audiences. He clashed at times with more hawkish stars like Toby Keith, though he counted many conservative country stars as friends and supporters.

Kristofferson said during a 1995 interview with the AP he remembered a woman complaining about one of his songs that talked about killing babies in the name of freedom.

“I said, ’Well, what made you mad — the fact that I was saying it or the fact that we’re doing it?'" Kristofferson said. "To me, they were getting mad at me ’cause I was telling them what was going on.”

To him, there was no contradiction, his political thinking was a reckoning for his military past.

“When you come to question some of the things being done in your name,” he told the AP in 2006, "it was particularly painful.”

No one was upset by the man's blue-eyed gaze on screen, however. Legendary Western director Sam Peckinpah saw him as a perfect young outlaw to put alongside James Coburn in 1973's “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.”

But he would be best known for playing the handsome love interest in films that centered on strong women: Ellen Burstyn in 1974’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” directed by Martin Scorsese, and Barbra Streisand in the 1976 version of “A Star Is Born," a role echoed by Bradley Cooper in the 2018 remake.

Streisand said on Instagram that she was developing “A Star is Born” when she saw Kristofferson on stage at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.

“I knew he was something special," she wrote.

Scorsese said Monday that Kristofferson was “a damn good actor, a remarkable screen presence. Spending time with Kris when we made ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ was one of the highlights of my life.”

The director said in a statement that he was listening to “Me and Bobby McGee,” "Just like half of the world."

Kristofferson became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004, but he had already been canonized beyond his own satisfaction when he became a member of the supergroup the Highwaymen in the mid-1980s, alongside Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Nelson, the only member now alive. To Kristofferson, it meant the men he had admired most regarded him as an equal.

“To be not only recorded by them but to be friends with them and to work side by side was just a little unreal,” Kristofferson told the AP in 2005. "It was like seeing your face on Mount Rushmore.”

Nelson and Cash’s daughter Rosanne were among the many artists who took part in a 2016 tribute concert to Kristofferson, joining him on stage for a group rendition of his song “Why Me.”

Kristofferson long thought about he would like to be remembered.

Another friend, Leonard Cohen, wrote in liner notes to his greatest hits collection that Kristofferson once told him he wanted the opening lines of Cohen's “Bird on a Wire” on his tombstone: “Like a bird on a wire, Like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried, in my way, to be free.”

It’s apt enough, but another Kristofferson line from the “The Pilgrim” might serve just as well:

“The goin’ up was worth the comin’ down.”

FILE - Actress Candice Bergen, from left, singer Rita Coolidge, singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson, country singer Willie Nelson, and actor Burt Reynolds are seen backstage at New York's Bottom Line after Coolidge and Kristofferson's opening night, Jan. 4, 1979. Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar who became a superstar songwriter, singer and actor, died Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Kris Kristofferson performs on stage in August 1973. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Producer Jon Peters, from left, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson appear at a preview of the film, "A Star is Born," in Dec. 23, 1976, in New York. Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor, has died Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis, File)

FILE - Kris Kristofferson performs at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, June 13, 2010, in Manchester, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

FILE - Actor Kris Kristofferson walks down the red carpet during the premiere for his new movie "Dreamer," Oct. 9, 2005, in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ric Francis, File)

FILE - Kris Kristofferson poses for a portrait in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 15, 1995. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

FILE - Kris Kristofferson performs in concert at The American Music Theatre, April 12, 2019, in Lancaster, Pa. (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Country stars Johnny Cash, left and Kris Kristofferson sing during the Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 1983. Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor, has died Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.

The president's threat comes a day after a federal immigration officer shot and wounded a Minneapolis man who had attacked the officer with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger radiating across the Minnesota city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a Renee Good in the head.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the rarely used federal law to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump said in social media post.

The Associated Press has reached out to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for comment.

The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down. ICE is a DHS agency.

In Minneapolis, smoke filled the streets Wednesday night near the site of the latest shooting as federal officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd. Protesters responded by throwing rocks and shooting fireworks.

Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference that the gathering was an unlawful assembly and “people need to leave.”

Things later quietened down and by early Thursday only a few demonstrators and law enforcement officers remained at the scene.

Demonstrations have become common on the streets of Minneapolis since the ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old Good on Jan. 7. Agents have yanked people from their cars and homes, and have been confronted by angry bystanders demanding that the officers pack up and leave.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey described the situation as not “sustainable.”

“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order,” he said.

Frey said the federal force — five times the size of the city’s 600-officer police force — has “invaded” Minneapolis, scaring and angering residents.

In a statement describing the events that led to Wednesday's shooting, Homeland Security said federal law enforcement officers stopped a driver from Venezuela who is in the U.S. illegally. The person drove away and crashed into a parked car before taking off on foot, DHS said.

After officers reached the person, two other people arrived from a nearby apartment and all three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.

“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said.

The two people who came out of the apartment are in custody, it said.

O’Hara said the man shot was in the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury.

The shooting took place about 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) north of where Good was killed. O’Hara's account of what happened largely echoed that of Homeland Security.

During a speech before the latest shooting, Walz described Minnesota as being in chaos, saying what's happening in the state “defies belief.”

“Let’s be very, very clear, this long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement,” he said. “Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”

Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who killed Good, suffered internal bleeding to his torso during the encounter, a Homeland Security official told The Associated Press.

The official spoke to AP on condition of anonymity in order to discuss Ross’ medical condition. The official did not provide details about the severity of the injuries, and the agency did not respond to questions about the extent of the bleeding, exactly how he suffered the injury, when it was diagnosed or his medical treatment.

Good was killed after three ICE officers surrounded her SUV on a snowy street a few blocks from her home.

Bystander video shows one officer ordering Good to open the door and grabbing the handle. As the vehicle begins to move forward, Ross, standing in front, raises his weapon and fires at least three shots at close range. He steps back as the SUV advances and turns.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said Ross was struck by the vehicle and that Good was using her SUV as a weapon — a self-defense claim that has been criticized by Minnesota officials.

Chris Madel, an attorney for Ross, declined to comment.

Good’s family has hired the same law firm that represented George Floyd’s family in a $27 million settlement with Minneapolis. Floyd, who was Black, died after a white police officer pinned his neck to the ground in the street in May 2020.

Madhani reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press reporters Julie Watson in San Diego; Rebecca Santana in Washington; Ed White in Detroit and Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis contributed.

A protester yells in front of law enforcement after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Tear gas surrounds federal law enforcement officers as they leave a scene after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Protesters shout at law enforcement officers after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Law enforcement officers stand amid tear gas at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)