After years as a struggling songwriter, he found his voice with a direct, evocative style that launched his decades-long career as a musician, actor and activist.

He was known for classics like “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” and for starring in films like “A Star Is Born" with Barbra Streisand.

Kris Kristofferson was a complete man, the kind that hardly exists anymore, soldier, singer, pilot, poet. But before he was anything else, he was an athlete, and that informed all he did after. Two of the deeper lines in his face came from a baseball bat and a football scar.