Kris Kristofferson Learns the Truth on Stage and Screen

Kris Kristofferson has successfully balanced his two passions -- music and acting -- throughout a career spanning more than 40 years. Now getting ready to debut his latest film project, 'Provinces of Night,' the 73-year old says his success is due largely to advice he received in a telegram from character actor Anthony Zerbe, while working on his second major film, the 1972 drama, 'Cisco Pike.'

"Anthony's telegram said, 'Forget about the camera and tell the truth,'" Kris tells Nashville's Tennessean newspaper. "I've always remembered that, and tried to believe in it. I've found the same thing that works for me on stage works for me in films: Be as honest as I can be. If I can believe what I'm saying, the audience usually can, too."

In 'Provinces of Night,' which teams Kris with Dwight Yoakam, Hillary Duff and Val Kilmer, Kris plays the character of E. F. Bloodworth, a rough alcoholic who loves music. It's a role which Kris says was easy for him to embrace.

"Bloodworth is a musician, and he makes whiskey, and he's as selfish as you sometimes have to be," Kris reveals. "And it really wasn't a stretch for me to play an alcoholic singer-songwriter. I have plenty of experience there. Plus, anything you do for a long time is going to get easier, and I've been acting for 30 years."

The three-time Grammy winner, who also earned a Golden Globe for his role in 'A Star Is Born,' admits most of his success has been unplanned. "I've been very lucky to have been able to do these things, singing and acting, not having a classic voice or any theatrical training," he says. "Back when I started doing all this, I thought writing was the only creative part. But I've come to think of performing as a respectable craft. You can do it well, or not. I don't think anybody ever thought of me as an actor, and that's kind of nice. They think I'm being me. And I am."

Working on new music with fellow hit makers Elvis Costello and Rosanne Cash, he is also hitting the road for several solo dates this summer and fall, with stops in Sweden, Europe and Canada. Click here for tour dates.



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