(22 June 1952 – 1 September 2025)
Graham Greene, the Canadian First National Oneida actor and musician, who has died aged 73, had a fifty-year career in films, television and theatre. His first film was Running Brave (1983), a sports biopic about the Olympic runner Billy Mills (Robby Benson), from the Oglala Sioux tribe. Then he was in Revolution, Hugh Hudson’s historical drama with Al Pacino, and Powwow Highway, a comedy-drama, saw him as a Vietnam veteran. However, it wasn’t until Dances with Wolves in 1990 that he really came to the forefront and his performance as Kicking Bird will be remembered for ever. Out of respect for the historical facts, Kevin Costner’s epic Western used First Nation actors and Native Americans to play members of the Sioux and Pawnee tribes. However, Greene nearly didn’t join the cast until members of Costner’s crew persuaded him that Greene was their man. However, it took a long time for Greene to master the Lakota dialogue. With its ring of authenticity, the film, despite some criticism, was a huge box-office success, receiving some twelve Academy Award nominations – including one for Greene – and winning seven, including the top gong for best picture.
Graham Greene was born in Ohsweken on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, to a paramedic and his wife. They lived in Hamilton, Ontario, where their son worked as draughtsman, civil technologist, steelworker and member of a rock band. As an audio technician he was encouraged to try acting and at the 2007 Stratford Ontario Festival he played Shakespeare’s Shylock and Lennie in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
After Dances with Wolves, Greene worked more or less full time, in Rob Reiner’s North with Elijah Wood and Bruce Willis, John McTiernan’s Die Hard with a Vengeance, Richard Attenborough’s Grey Owl with Pierce Brosnan, The Green Mile with Tom Hanks, Casino Jack with Kevin Spacey, Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game with Jessica Chastain and many others. He made four films in 2024 and there are still four more to come. Graham Greene’s last film was Ice Fall, a thriller from Stefan Ruzowitsky about a game warden and a poacher who find a stash of millions of dollars in a frozen lake. Sounds like a fun one to end on. Graham Greene was married to Hilary Blackmore and they had a daughter, the actress Carol Lazare. Still in Toronto, Greene preferred living away from California and Hollywood to concentrate on writing, golf, making boats and just chilling out. Again, a good way to go.
MICHAEL DARVELL
