Graham Greene, Oscar-Nominated Actor, Dies at 73

Remembering Graham Greene: A Trailblazing Indigenous Actor’s Enduring Legacy

When you think of Graham Greene, you don’t just think of an actor — you think of the quiet laugh behind his eyes, the way he could make you feel safe with a single glance, or how he could deliver a line so honest it made you forget you were watching a performance at all. Greene, the Oscar-nominated Canadian actor who gave us Kicking Bird in Dances with Wolves, left us on September 1, 2025, at the age of 73. His passing, after a long battle with illness, feels like the dimming of a light we weren’t ready to lose. The tributes pouring in from Hollywood, from fans, and from Indigenous communities all echo the same thing: he was more than a performer; he was a pioneer, a friend, and a storyteller who carried entire generations with him.

Graham Greene Life That Began Far From the Spotlight

Greene’s story didn’t start with fame, red carpets, or agents. He was born in 1952 in Ohsweken, on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, a place where family, culture, and resilience were stitched into everyday life. He was the son of hardworking parents — his father a paramedic and maintenance man, his mother keeping the family strong — and his path could have been any number of things. Before acting ever entered the picture, Greene was everything else: a welder, a draftsman, a carpenter, even a roadie lugging gear for rock bands.

He loved to poke fun at himself about those days. “I stumbled into acting,” he once joked, “and I thought, these people keep me in the shade, give me food and water… wow — this is the life of a dog!” That’s who Graham was: grounded, self-deprecating, never letting anyone, including himself, get too carried away with titles or fame.

The theater was where he first found himself, though he never made a big show about it. He performed on small stages in Toronto and England, sharpening his craft with discipline he always credited to the stage. “The discipline of theatre is what I recommend to all actors,” he said. It wasn’t glamorous, but it gave him the tools to step into any role and make it real.

The Breakthrough That Changed Everything

For most of the world, Graham Greene arrived in 1990, when Kevin Costner’s sweeping Western Dances with Wolves became a phenomenon. As Kicking Bird, Greene played a Lakota medicine man with such grace and humanity that audiences couldn’t look away. It was a role that could have been flat or stereotyped in the wrong hands, but Greene filled it with life. He learned the Lakota language, joked about being thrown from horses, and poured every ounce of authenticity he had into the performance.

When the Academy nominated him for Best Supporting Actor, it wasn’t just a nod to him — it was history. He became one of the first Indigenous actors recognized in that way, and suddenly Hollywood couldn’t ignore the fact that Indigenous stories, told with respect and truth, mattered. But Greene never bragged about it. For him, it was always about the work, about doing justice to the people he was portraying.

Graham Greene Career That Never Stopped Surprising

What followed was a career that stretched across decades and genres. He could make you laugh in The Red Green Show as the delightfully ridiculous explosives expert Edgar Montrose, and then break your heart in The Green Mile as Arlen Bitterbuck, the death row inmate facing the end with dignity. He was Walter Crow Horse in Thunderheart, Detective Joe Lambert in Die Hard with a Vengeance, Harry Clearwater in Twilight, and even showed up in The Last of Us and Reservation Dogs in recent years.

What people loved most wasn’t just the range — it was the honesty. No matter if the project was a blockbuster or a small indie film, Greene gave everything to it. He never treated a character as a stereotype. He treated them like people, with humor, flaws, and heart. Fans would often say the same thing after watching him: he made it feel real.

The Man Behind the Roles

Colleagues who knew him best never stopped talking about his humor. Tom Jackson called him “the epitome of the business.” Lou Diamond Phillips said he was “one of the wittiest, wiliest, warmest people” he had ever known. And fans online have spent the last few days sharing memories of how Greene’s characters stayed with them, long after the credits rolled.

Greene himself wasn’t shy about life’s struggles. He battled depression, even being hospitalized in 1997, and he spoke about it openly later on. But through it all, he had anchors: his wife of more than 30 years, Hilary Blackmore, their daughter Lilly, and later his grandson Tarlo. At home, he wasn’t Graham Greene the actor. He was a husband, a father, a cat-lover, a man who liked building boats and laughing at life’s little absurdities. He called his marriage “the best time of my life,” proof that even amid the pressures of Hollywood, he never lost sight of what really mattered.

A Legacy That Lives On

The awards came, of course — a Grammy, the Order of Canada, Canadian Screen Awards, a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and most recently the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2025. He always laughed off the accolades, once saying he thought the call about his latest honor was a prank. That humility was who he was — grateful but never self-important.

But if you ask anyone what his true legacy is, it’s not the statues or certificates. It’s the fact that he broke ground where there was no path. He showed Hollywood — and the world — that Indigenous actors weren’t side notes, but storytellers with depth and brilliance. He carried his culture into every character, sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, but always with dignity.

As we say goodbye to Graham Greene, the loss feels heavy. And yet, his work — his laughter, his stories, his voice — lives on. From the windswept plains of Dances with Wolves to the small-town humor of The Red Green Show, he left pieces of himself everywhere. He once said that theater built characters. What he may not have realized is that he built something bigger: hope.