You know, it’s always tough when we lose someone who’s left such a big mark on the world of film. Kevin Costner just shared a touching message about his old co-star from Dances with Wolves, Graham Greene, who sadly passed away recently.
It was on Tuesday, September 2nd, right after Greene’s agent let everyone know he’d died at 73 following a long battle with illness, that Costner posted his thoughts on Instagram. He kicked things off by saying, “A few things come to mind when I think of Graham Greene and our time together on Dances with Wolves.”
He included a little video clip from the movie – that classic 1990 Western where Costner’s character, this Civil War soldier named Lieutenant Dunbar, starts building ties with a group of Lakota Indians. In the scene, Dunbar’s trying to chat with Greene’s character, Kicking Bird, and the rest of the tribe, but there’s this huge language gap. So, Costner acts out a buffalo to get his point across, which is pretty hilarious if you think about it.
Costner mentioned how impressed he was with Greene’s dedication to picking up the Lakota language for the role. And man, he was thrilled when Greene got that Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor – it was well-deserved for his spot-on performance in Costner’s first time directing.
Thinking back on that specific scene, Costner pointed out how Greene nailed the dynamic between Dunbar and the Native characters with hardly any dialogue. It really showed off his talent.
Overall, Costner described Greene as “a master at work and a wonderful human being.” He wrapped up by saying he’s thankful to have been part of that chapter in Greene’s career and wished him peace.
Greene left us on Monday, September 1st, after dealing with health issues for quite a while, according to his agent.
If you dig into Greene’s story, he didn’t exactly plan on becoming an actor. In a chat with Reader’s Digest Canada back in 2017, he joked about how he “stumbled into” it after trying his hand at all sorts of jobs – carpenter, welder, draftsman, even laying carpets and working as a roadie and audio tech.
What cracked him up about acting? “These people keep me in the shade, give me food and water, take me over to where I say what I’m supposed to say, then they take me back.” He likened it to being treated like a pampered pup.
Beyond Dances with Wolves, Greene popped up in a bunch of memorable flicks like Maverick in ’94, Die Hard with a Vengeance the next year, The Green Mile in ’99, and even jumped into the vampire world with The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009 and Breaking Dawn – Part 2 in 2012. Plus, he had tons of TV gigs over the years.
He’s survived by his wife, Hilary Blackmore, his daughter Lilly Lazare-Greene, and his grandson Tarlo.
Rest easy, Graham – your work touched a lot of folks.