Country music legend and actor Kris Kristofferson has died aged 88, his family has announced.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home,” their statement, posted to Kristofferson’s official Facebook page, reads.
“We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all,” it closes, with the family also requesting “privacy during this time.”
While many know Kristofferson for the music career that originally propelled him to stardom and saw him become a household name in country, or for his roles in films like the Blade trilogy, the musician and actor was also one of the many celebrities to lend their voice acting talents to Fallout New Vegas, which is how plenty of folks from my generation discovered him.
In Obsidian’s game, which also features the relatively recently departed Matthew Perry, Kristofferson voices Chief Hanlon, who can be found leading the NCR’s rangers from his post on the balcony of Camp Golf – which has a nice view across Lake Mead, especially if you’re playing on modern hardware. He’s easily missable if you’re blazing straight through the main quest, or aren’t taking the NCR path, but it’s well worth doing the quest that involves him, Return To Sender.
To me, it’s one of New Vegas’ many underrated encounters, and it lets you really get to know the unique outlook that Hanlon has on the game’s world and the war that’s brewing within it. Kristofferson’s dulcet tones are the perfect way to convey the views of the pragmatic and war-weary veteran soldier, a character who helps add some depth to an NCR faction that otherwise can feel a bit short on interesting personalities in comparison to the groups it’s up against.
For all the lofty philosophy, politics, and pretense at play, one of New Vegas’ biggest strengths is that it never forgets to ground the events it portrays in human terms, forcing you to think about what the conflict means for the people on the ground just trying to live through it. Wrestling with this is what Hanlon, and his quest, are all about. I’ll hold off from telling you any more here, because it’s a tale well woth experiencing in-game if you haven’t
Naturally, Fallout fans across social media are among those paying tribute to Kristofferson today, with an array of posts across the likes of Twitter and Reddit seeing those who have interacted with the character sharing their condolences, and reccomending to the players who’ve not yet run into him during their time with the game to fire it up and do so.