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Harry Dean Stanton (born July 14, 1926) is an American character actor.

Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, the son of Ersel (née Moberly), a hair dresser, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a tobacco farmer and barber.^[1][2] His parents divorced when Stanton was in high school and later re-married. He had two younger brothers, Archie and Ralph. Stanton attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, where he studied journalism and radio arts. He also studied at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. Stanton is a veteran of World War II.

Stanton has appeared in both indie and cult films (Two-Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, Escape from New York, Repo Man), as well as many mainstream Hollywood productions, including Cool Hand Luke, The Godfather Part II, Alien, Red Dawn, Pretty in Pink, and The Green Mile. He has been a favorite actor of Sam Peckinpah, John Milius, David Lynch, and Monte Hellman, and is also close friends with Francis Ford Coppola. His principal lead role was in Wim Wenders's film Paris, Texas.

Stanton is a favorite of film critic Roger Ebert who has said that "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." However Ebert later admitted that Dream a Little Dream (1989), in which Stanton appeared, was a "clear violation" of this rule.^[3] In the DVD extra interview of Repo Man, Stanton deeply reviews his outlook on life in a way that is considered "Tao".

Stanton has also occasionally toured nightclubs as a singer/guitarist, playing mostly country-inflected cover tunes. He appeared in the Dwight Yoakam video, "Sorry You Asked". The role that Stanton is often associated with, the role of Travis in Paris, Texas, was originally to go to Sam Shepard at the urging of Wim Wenders.

He is playing Roman Grant, the manipulative leader/ prophet of a polygamous sect of Mormonism in the HBO tv series Big Love.

• Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
• The Hostage (1966)
• Cool Hand Luke (Billed as Dean Stanton) (1967)
• Kelly's Heroes (1970)
• Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
• Cisco Pike (Billed as H. D. Stanton) (1972)
• Dillinger (1973)
• Up in Smoke (1973)
• Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
• Where the Lilies Bloom (1973)
• The Godfather Part II (1974)
• Cockfighter (1974)
• Farewell My Lovely (1975)
• The Missouri Breaks (1976)
• Renaldo and Clara (1978)
• Straight Time (1978)
• Wise Blood (1979)
• The Rose (1979)
• Alien (1979)
• Deathwatch (La Mort en Direct) (1980)
• The Black Marble (1980)
• Private Benjamin (1980)
• UFOria (1981)
• Escape from New York (1981)
• Young Doctors in Love (1982)
• Christine (1983)
• Paris, Texas (1984)
• Red Dawn (1984)
• Repo Man (1984)
• The Care Bears Movie (1985)
• One Magic Christmas (1985)
• Fool for Love (1985)
• Pretty in Pink (1986)
• The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
• Stars and Bars (1988)
• Wild at Heart (1990)
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
• Hotel Room (1992)
• Never Talk to Strangers (1995)
• The Band - The Authorized Video Biography (1995; as narrator)
• Down Periscope (1996)
• She's So Lovely (1997)
• Fire Down Below (1997)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
• The Mighty (1998)
• The Straight Story (1999)
• The Green Mile (1999)
• The Pledge (2001)
• The Man Who Cried (2001)
• Sonny (2002)
• Straight to Hell: The Alex Cox Collection (2003)
• The Big Bounce (2004)
• Alien Autopsy (2006)
• You, Me and Dupree (2006), (uncredited)
• Inland Empire (2006)
• Alpha Dog (2007)

• Harry Dean Stanton at the Internet Movie Database