Graham Greene, the Canadian First Nations actor whose portrayal of Kicking Bird in Dances with Wolves earned him an Academy Award nomination, has died at 73. He died in Stratford, Ontario, after a lengthy illness, according to the Associated Press.
Who was Graham Greene in Dances with Wolves?
Greene played Kicking Bird, a Lakota leader who becomes an important ally to Kevin Costner’s character, in Costner’s 1990 film Dances with Wolves. The role brought Greene an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated, not an Oscar winner.
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The film received 12 Academy Award nominations and won seven, including Best Picture and Best Director, according to the Associated Press and ABC News. Greene’s nomination was one of the film’s 12.
How did Graham Greene die?
Greene died in Stratford, Ontario, at age 73 after a lengthy illness, the Associated Press reported, citing his agent. The Guardian initially gave Toronto as the location, then corrected its report to Stratford.
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What films and television shows was Graham Greene in?
Greene’s screen career ranged from early Canadian productions to major Hollywood films and later television. The Associated Press identifies The Great Detective (1979) as an early screen credit and Running Brave (1983) as his first film.
Selected film roles
- Dances with Wolves (1990), as Kicking Bird
- Thunderheart (1992)
- Maverick (1994)
- Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
- The Green Mile (1999)
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)
- Wind River (2017)
Television and other work
His television credits included Reservation Dogs, 1883, The Last of Us and Tulsa King. He also appeared in theater, recorded spoken-word work and had a credited role in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2. The Los Angeles Times counted more than 180 film and television credits; that figure is the newspaper’s tally.
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What did Greene accomplish beyond his Oscar nomination?
Greene’s honors included a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000 for Listen to the Storyteller. The Guardian also reports that he won Gemini and Canadian Screen awards and received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement in 2025.
Before acting, Greene worked as a draftsman, high steelworker, welder and carpenter, according to the Associated Press. His career also included work that challenged narrow portrayals of Indigenous people. In a 2024 interview with Canada’s Theatre Museum, quoted by The Guardian, Greene objected to scripts that demanded stereotypical stoicism and grunting: “I don’t know anybody who behaves like that. Native people have an incredible sense of humour.”
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Greene was also remembered as a mentor to younger Indigenous actors. Actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai described him as a mentor in a tribute reported by the Associated Press. Costner, his Dances with Wolves co-star, wrote on Instagram: “He was a master at work and a wonderful human being.”
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