Kristoffer Kristofferson born June 22, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Kristofferson composed his own songs and collaborated with Nashville songwriters such as Shel Silverstein.
In , Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings , Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in forming the country music supergroup the Highwaymen , and formed a key creative force in the outlaw country music movement that eschewed the Nashville music machine in favor of independent songwriting and producing.
Army Air Corps officer later a U. Air Force major general. Kristofferson moved around frequently as a youth because of his father's military service, and they settled down in San Mateo, California. An aspiring writer, Kristofferson enrolled in Pomona College that same year. These early stories reveal the roots of Kristofferson's passions and concerns. At the age of 17, Kristofferson took a summer job with a dredging contractor on Wake Island. He called it "the hardest job I ever had".
Kristofferson attended Pomona College and experienced his first dose of fame in when he appeared in Sports Illustrated 's " Faces in the Crowd " on March 31 for his achievements in collegiate rugby union , American football , and track and field. Kristofferson graduated in with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude , in literature.
He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year. In a interview with Pomona College Magazine , Kristofferson mentioned philosophy professor Frederick Sontag as an important influence in his life. At Oxford, he became acquainted with fellow Rhodes scholar, art critic, and poet Michael Fried. Parnes was working to sell Kristofferson as "a Yank at Oxford" to the British public; Kristofferson was willing to accept that promotional approach if it helped his singing career, which he hoped would enable him to progress towards his goal of becoming a novelist.
