Dances with Wolves star Graham Greene has died aged 73 after facing a ‘lengthy illness’.
The Canadian First Nations (Oneida) actor rose to fame for playing Kicking Bird (Ziŋtká Nagwáka) in Kevin Costner’s 1990 directorial debut Dances with Wolves, which was based of the novel of the same name by Michael Blake
That role also earnt him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor, with the film receiving 12 nominations overall, also including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Writing, all categories of which it won.
Greene made his screen debut in the 1979 Canadian drama series The Great Detective, with his first movie role in 1983’s Running Brave.
Other notable screen credits included in Thunderheart, Maverick, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Green Mile, Transamerica and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, in which he played Harry Clearwater.
It’s now been announced that the actor died in hospital in Toronto on Monday, with the news confirmed to People by his agent Michael Greene.
In a statement, he shared: ‘Michael Greene loved all he did for his people and for the world. He was a great man of morals, ethics and character, and will be eternally missed. We love you, my brother Greene. God bless you.
He continued: ‘You are finally free. Susan Smith is meeting you at the gates of heaven, God bless you.’
Smith was Greene’s previous agent, who died in October 2013.
In 2017 Greene spoke to Reader’s Digest Canada about what he most fondly remembered about working on Dancing with Wolves – his horse.
‘He and I got on like a house on fire. On the last day I was shooting, this kid came up and told me it had been his—turns out he’d had to sell it. After filming, I went to the producers and said, “Make sure this kid gets his horse back. Take it out of my salary if you have to”,’ he recalled.
He also told the publication acting was a career he’d ‘stumbled into’.
‘I started out as a carpenter, a welder, a draftsman, a carpet layer, a roadie and an audio tech. I stumbled into acting and I thought, “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. Wow—this is the life of a dog”.’
Born in 1952, in Ohsweken on the Six Nations Reserve, Greene helped run the Centre for Indigenous Theatre Program and in the 1970s began acting in theatre productions himself.
He once said that after watching his first ever TV performance, he thought it was ‘awful’ and decided to start learning to act as a profession.
Greene went on to have over 200 film and TV credits throughout his career, with his most recent roles were in The Last of Us, Taika Waititi’s Reservation Dogs and the Taylor Sheridan series’ 1883 and Tulsa King.
He will also appear in the upcoming movie Ice Fall, which stars Joel Kinnaman.
In 2016 he was inducted into the Order of Canada, the second highest civilian honour in the country.
Greene is survived by his wife Hilary Blackmore, daughter Lilly Lazare-Greene and grandson Tarlo.
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