Graham Greene, the Oscar-nominated Canadian actor whose decades of screen and stage work helped broaden space for Indigenous stories in mainstream entertainment, died Monday at 73 after a long illness, according to his representatives. He passed away in Ontario; management said he died peacefully and shared a brief statement from his longtime agents.
A member of the Oneida Nation who grew up on the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, Greene broke through internationally with his portrayal of Kicking Bird in the 1990 Kevin Costner western “Dances With Wolves,” earning an Academy Award nomination for supporting actor. He went on to varied roles across film and television, from “Thunderheart,” “Maverick” and “The Green Mile” to recent appearances in “The Last of Us,” “Reservation Dogs” and Marvel’s “Echo.”
Peers quickly posted tributes, recalling both his dry wit and a persistent generosity with younger colleagues. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips wrote that he was “an Actor’s Actor,” while collaborators in Canada highlighted Greene’s influence as a visible, steady presence when Indigenous performers rarely saw themselves onscreen.
Greene’s honors reflected the breadth of his career. Earlier this year he received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement, joining the Order of Canada and Canada’s Walk of Fame among national recognitions. He also won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for “Listen to the Storyteller,” and last year earned a Canadian Screen Award for a scene-stealing supporting turn in the comedy-thriller “Seeds.”
Born in 1952, Greene worked a string of jobs before turning to acting in the 1970s, eventually building a résumé of more than 200 credits that regularly defied stereotype. In interviews and public remarks, he argued that Indigenous performers should not be confined to limited roles; colleagues say that insistence—paired with his ease in contemporary, genre and period projects—helped normalize casting that once seemed unlikely. An unfinished thriller, “Ice Fall,” is expected to be released posthumously.
He is survived by his wife, Hilary Blackmore, his daughter, Lilly Lazare-Greene, and his grandson, Tarlo.
