Oscar-nominated Canadian actor Graham Greene, who broke through with memorable roles across several genres at a time when the entertainment industry shunned Indigenous talent, has died at age 73.
Greene’s management team said he died on Monday in Stratford, Ont., after a long illness.
The actor, who was born in Ohsweken, Ont., and is from the Six Nations Reserve, starred in a steady stream of film, television and theatre projects from the late 1970s onward.
He earned an Oscar nomination for the supporting role of “Kicking Bird” in the 1990 film Dances With Wolves, an American western co-starring and directed by Kevin Costner that won best picture.
Last year, he won a Canadian Screen Award for playing a version of himself in the comedy thriller Seeds, directed by Kaniehtiio Horn.
Horn, who was born in Ottawa and raised on a Mohawk reserve, says she first encountered Greene’s work when her family would rent the 1991 film Clearcut from their local video store.
“He was playing this playful, badass character,” Horn told The Canadian Press on Sunday night. “He was one of the first roles that I think we saw where we could actually cheer for the Indigenous character as he enacted some revenge.”
“It was really cathartic to watch for a lot of Indigenous people, especially after the Oka Crisis in the early ’90s,” she said.
That performance remained one to watch for Horn as she later became an actor.
“You can tell he’s having fun as an actor. That is just the best thing to watch, because he really made it his own,” Horn said.
(L-R) Lindsay Allikas, Eva Thomas, Meegwun Fairbrother, Kaniehtiio Horn, Graham Greene, Dallas Goldtooth, Leonard Farlinger and Jennifer Jonas attend the premiere of ‘Seeds’ during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at TIFF Lightbox on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario.
Shawn Goldberg/Getty Images
Horn and Greene would end up working together on the Syfy series Defiance as well as the FX hit Reservation Dogs. By the time she had cast him in her directorial debut Seeds they had built up what she described as a “niece-uncle” rapport. Horn said crews shot Greene’s scenes over the course of one day and said she loved riffing back-and-forth on set together.
“Getting him to play and improvise…it was a little bit surreal, but he made it easy for me. I feel like he just wanted me to do good, and he would tell me that. He would tell me that he’s proud of me,” she said.
‘Defiance’ — Pilot — Pictured: (l-r) Julie Benz as Amanda Rosewater, Graham Greene as Rafe McCawley, Grant Bowler as Jeb Nolan.
Ben Mark Holzberg/Syfy/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Horn said Greene’s death marks the loss of “one of the old guard,” likening him to other seasoned Indigenous actors such as Gary Farmer and Wes Studi.
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She added Greene was an inspiration for not allowing himself to be pigeonholed into one type of role.
“As much as they probably wanted to stereotype him … he never let that happen. And even then, the ‘natives on the horse’ roles that he got, he stood out and made those roles his own and just interesting to watch.”
“He was not only a good Indigenous actor, he was an good actor who happened to be Indigenous.”
Lou Diamond Phillips, Greene’s co-star on the short-lived TV show Wolf Lake, said he was “terribly saddened” to hear of Greene’s passing on social media.
‘Wolf Lake’, a sci-fi drama about a pack of wolves living in human form in the small Seattle suburb of Wolf Lake, where human disappearances have been running high. The stars are (l-r) Graham Greene, Lou Diamond Phillips, Paul Wasilewski, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Tim Matheson and Stacy Edwards.
Tony EsparzaCBS via Getty Images
“From Wolf Lake to Longmire, we had a beautiful friendship. An Actor’s Actor. One of the wittiest, wiliest, warmest people I’ve ever known. Iconic and Legendary,” Phillips wrote.
Greene was awarded the Governor General’s award for lifetime artistic achievement in June, and received the Order of Canada in 2015.
“He was a great man of moral ethics (and) character and will be eternally missed,” his agent Michael Greene said in a statement.
Greene’s credits also include the action classic Die Hard: With a Vengeance, the Tom Hanks-fronted drama The Green Mile and the western comedy Maverick.
On stage, he has appeared in Of Mice and Men and The Merchant of Venice at Stratford Festival, as well as Tomson Highway’s Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasking.
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