Harry Dean Stanton was born on the 14th July 1926, in West Irvine, Kentucky USA, and was an actor, musician and singer, but widely known for his roles in Hollywood movies, and classics such as “Cool Hand Luke” (1967), “The Godfather: Part II” (1974), “Alien” (1979), “Escape from New York” (1981) as well as “Paris, Texas” (1984), “Repo Man” (1984), “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988), “The Green Mile” (1999) and “Seven Psychopaths” (2012). One critic commented that “…no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad”. He passed away in 2017.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth this Hollywood veteran accumulated? How rich Harry Dean Stanton was? According to sources, it is estimated that the amount of Stanton’s net worth was $10 million, acquired through his acting career which spanned well over 60 years.
Harry Dean Stanton Net Worth $10 million
Harry was the eldest of three sons of hairdresser Ersel, and barber and tobacco farmer Sheridan Harry Stanton. After matriculating from Lafayette High School, Harry joined the US Navy in which he served as a cook on an LST (Landing Ship, Tank) during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa in World War II. Upon returning from his service, Harry enrolled at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where he studied radio arts and journalism. Parallel to his studies, he was actively involved in the Guignol Theatre, and so dropped out of university to pursue his acting career. He relocated to California where he crafted his skills and honed his talent at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse.
Prior to his on-camera debut in one episode of the 1954 TV series “Inner Sanctum”, Harry earned his living as a singer, touring with a 24-piece choir. In 1957, he officially debuted on the big screen in the role of Pte. Miller in the western “Tomahawk Trail”. In the course of the next 10 years, Harry maintained a continuous streak of acting engagements, mostly in westerns. His real career breakthrough came in 1967, when he appeared as Tramp in Stuart Rosenberg’s drama “Cool Hand Luke”, featuring Paul Newman and George Kennedy in the leading roles. This performance showed the full potential of Stanton’s acting talent and capabilities and launched his career to the stars. All these roles provided the basis for Harry Dean Stanton‘s wealth, and helped to establish him as an worthwhile actor.
In 1974 Harry Dean Stanton appeared in the sequel of the Francis Ford Coppola’s cult movie – “The Godfather: Part II”, followed by another memorable role as Brett in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror movie “Alien”. Two years later, Harry was cast in John Carpenter’s sci-fi action movie “Escape from New York” (1981) in which he starred opposing Kurt Russell and Lee Van Cleef. 1984 was one of the more significant years in Stanton’s career with two leading roles, in the sci-fi comedy “Repo Man” and the role of Travis Henderson in Wim Wenders’ drama “Paris, Texas”. It is certain that all these engagements helped Harry Dean to dramatically increase his overall net worth.
In 1988 Harry collaborated with Martin Scorsese and appeared in “The Last Temptation of Christ”. Then for his portrayal of the side character Toot-Toot in the 1999 classic with Tom Hanks in the leading role – “The Green Mile”, Stanton was nominated for the prestigious Screen Actors Guild Award as well as Circuit Community Award. In 2004, he added a cameo appearance in the popular CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men” to his abundant portfolio. Another memorable cameo appearance was in the 2012 rather dark comedy “Seven Psychopaths” alongside Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson. Doubtlessly all these ventures impacted on Harry Dean’s overall net worth in a positive manner.
Since 2011 the Harry Dean Stanton Fest has been held annually in Lexington, Kentucky. In his career which has been active since 1954, Harry Dean Stanton recorded 198 acting credits, including in movies, TV series and even one video game. He was active almost until his passing – one of his last engagements was an appearance in the first episode of the “Twin Peaks” TV series remake announced for April 2017. Also, with his own “The Harry Dean Stanton Band”, he still regularly performed on the Hollywood club circuit.
When it comes to his personal life, it is known only that Harry Dean Stanton was in a relationship with actress Rebecca De Mornay between 1981 and 1983, however, apparently he never married nor has any children. He passed away on 15 September 2017, in Los Angeles.
