Dances With Wolves icon Graham Greene has died aged 73 after a long illness.
The acclaimed actor, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role as Kicking Bird in the 1990 Kevin Costner epic, passed away in a Toronto hospital on Monday.
His representative told Deadline: ‘He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed.’
‘You are finally free. Susan Smith is meeting you at the gates of heaven,’ he added, referencing the actor’s longtime agent who died in 2013.
Greene was known as an acting trailblazer, who raised the profile of Indigenous actors in Hollywood.
He married wife Hillary Blackmore in 1990 and the pair shared four children.
Greene, who was of Oneida First Nation and Canadian descent, was born on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario and worked as a welder, draftsman and steelworker before pursuing acting.
His television debut was in an episode of The Great Detective in 1979, followed by his film debut in 1983’s Running Brave.
He shot to worldwide fame in Dances With Wolves as the Sioux Medicine Man Kicking Bird – which Costner directed and starred in as Lt. John J. Dunbar.
In a past interview with CineMoovie, Greene revealed he was thrown from a horse during production, and joked he wanted to get payback on the animal rather than take a break from filming.
He added that he struggled to learn how to speak the Lakota language, saying: ‘I couldn’t figure out how they ordered their language. Its structure is totally foreign to English or French.’
He would later make light of his role when he appeared on comedy show The Red Green Show as Edgar “K.B.” Montrose.
When asked what he thought of Dances With Wolves, he quipped: ‘The native guy [Kicking Bird] was OK. Should have gotten the Oscar. But the rest of it was a yawn!’
In 1999 he played death row inmate Arlen Bitterbuck alongside Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan.
Bitterbuck was a Native American who was found guilty of killing another man during an extremely violent bar fight over a pair of boots.
Greene also starred in Oscar-nominated Felicity Huffman film Transamerica in 2005 as well as 2009’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
His other roles include Maverick (1994) with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster as well as Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) with Bruce Willis, and Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game (2017) with Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Costner.
His television appearances include Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King and The Last Of Us.
Besides his Oscar nomination, Greene also won a Grammy, a Gemini, and a Canadian Screen Award. He was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
Earlier this year, was honored with the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in his native country.
He also has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.
One of Greene’s final roles was on FX’s series Reservation Dogs, a show that fittingly continued his legacy of breaking barriers for Indigenous talent in Hollywood.
Greene’s final completed project is the upcoming thriller Ice Fall, which also stars Joel Kinnaman and is set to premiere October 16.
Aside from his wife of 35 years, Hilary, he is also survived by daughter Lilly Lazare-Greene and grandson Tarlo.
Following his passing, social media tributes began pouring in for the prolific actor.
‘Graham Greene was a phenomenally talented actor who brought it in every single role he played. I’m so sad to hear he’s gone,’ one fan on X wrote.
‘Graham Greene RIP. Such a great actor. From Thunderheart to Dances With Wolves to The Green Mile to Wind River to Longmire to Reservation Dogs to The Last of Us and so many more—all he did was turn in great performances.’
‘Ah damn…one of the best. RIP Graham Greene,’ another added.
