Graham Greene, an Oscar Nominee for ‘Dances With Wolves,’ Dies at 73

Graham Greene, a Canadian actor who earned an Oscar nomination for his work in 1990’s Dances With Wolves, died Monday. He was 73.

According to Deadline, Greene passed away in a hospital in Ontario following a long illness.

“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed,” Greene’s agent, Michael Greene (no relation), said in a statement to Deadline. “You are finally free.”

Greene, a member of the Oneida First Nation in Canada, was considered a trailblazer for Indigenous actors in mainstream films. He earned an Acadamy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his performance as the medicine man Kicking Bird in Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves. The film, which was nominated for 12 Oscars, won seven, including best picture.

In 2020, AARP named Dances With Wolves one of eight essential films of the Native American experience.

Greene’s other notable films include Thunderheart (1992), Maverick (1994), Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995), The Green Mile (1999), Transamerica (2005), Winter’s Tale (2014), The Shack (2017) and Wind River (2017).

“Heartbroken. Terribly saddened to hear of the passing of Graham Greene at only 73,” fellow actor Lou Diamond Phillips, 63, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “From Wolf Lake to Longmire, we had a beautiful friendship. An Actor’s Actor. One of the wittiest, wiliest, warmest people I’ve ever known. Iconic and Legendary. RIP, My Brother.”

Another actor, Terminator 2 star Robert Patrick, 66, also saluted Greene on X.

“Heartbroken to hear Graham Greene has passed,” Patrick posted. “I had the privilege of working with him on The Outer Limits… I loved that man! Absolute legend.”

Greene was born on June 22, 1952, in Ohsweken, Ontario, a town on the Six Nations Reserve. After holding a series of odd jobs including carpenter and welder, he launched his acting career in the 1970s onstage in Canada and England. His breakthrough came in 1979 on the Canadian TV series The Great Detective. His first film role was 1983’s Running Brave, a profile of Oglala Sioux athlete Billy Mills.

In 2016, he was named to the Order of Canada for his “achievements as a pioneering and versatile actor of the stage and screen,” according to the website of the Governor General of Canada. “With talent and natural presence, he has broken the mould that previously typecast Aboriginal characters and has blazed a trail for the next generation of actors.”

He is survived by his wife, Hilary Blackmore; a daughter, Lilly Lazare-Greene; and a grandson, Tarlo.