Yellowstone’s Cole Hauser says he ‘never really knew’ dad Wings in viral interview after star dies at 78

Wings Hauser, the father of former Yellowstone star Cole Hauser, died last weekend at the age of 78.

Cole hasn’t yet spoken about the death of his father, who worked first as a musician and singer before becoming a prolific character actor beginning in the late 1970s, but he previously opened up about their complicated relationship.

Despite sharing a vocation with his father, Cole admitted in a recently resurfaced interview that Wings was completely absent during his childhood after divorcing Cole’s mother, Cass Warner, when he was just two years old.

The actor revealed in the early 2000s that it wasn’t until he was 15 that he finally reconnected with his father.

And in an interview with Cowboys & Indians magazine from 2021, the 49-year-old actor opened up about the first time he learned who his father was.

While speaking with the film critic and historian Joe Leydon, Hauser admitted that he was ‘nine or 10 years old’ when he first saw the name ‘Wings Hauser’ on television. 

In a recently resurfaced interview, Yellowstone star Cole Hauser, 49, spoke about how he didn’t even know the late Wings Hauser was his father until he was ‘nine or 10 years old’; seen in November in NYC 

Wings Hauser, a prolific character actor, died last weekend at 78

At the time, he didn’t even make the connection that the actor on screen had been his father. 

‘I waited for the finish of the film, and I saw Wings Hauser [in the credits]. So, I went into my mom’s room, and I said, “Hey mom. I just saw a guy on TV, his name’s Wings Hauser,” Cole recalled. 

‘And she looked at me and went: “Wow!” And I said, “Yeah, I saw this guy.” And she goes, “Yeah, well, let’s talk about that.” 

‘And so, she explained to me who he was. And that’s how I found out about my dad,‘ he added.

In a 2002 interview with Film Freak Central, Hauser noted that it was still about five more years before he and his father met.

‘I didn’t really grow up with him but when I moved out to LA he let me live with him for a year and we got to know each other a little then,’ he shared.

Hauser said that Wings wasn’t a big influence on the kinds of roles he pursued, and he noted how different their careers had turned out to be. 

But he found he dad to be a font of wisdom when it came to learning about the ‘acting world’ and show business when he was still new to the industry.

Hauser told Cowboys & Indians that he noticed Wings’ name in the credits of a movie he watched on TV, and when he mentioned the odd name his mother finally revealed that it was his father; seen with Kelly Reilly on Yellowstone

Hauser was known for roles in action films in the 1980s, and he scored prominent roles in filsm like Tough Guys Don’t Dance (pictured) and The Insider

In the same interview, Hauser said his dad was a ‘huge fan’ of Yellowstone. He is ‘obviously very proud of what I’ve done in it,’ he said, noting Wings’ affinity for the series because he was an ‘old cowboy’ whose family were ‘all Montanans’; still from Yellowstone

Despite their early estrangement, the two appear to have had a closer relationship later in life.

Cole told Cowboys & Indians that his dad was even a ‘huge fan’ of Yellowstone, his most high-profile project to date, which aired it’s final episode in December following the departure of star Kevin Costner after the first half of the fifth and final season.

He is ‘obviously very proud of what I’ve done in it,’ he said, noting Wings’ affinity for the series because he was an ‘old cowboy’ at heart.

Our family, the Hauser side of the family, are all Montanans. So, it’s very close to him,’ Hauser explained. ‘We have family in Helena and Livingstone and all over the state.’

Hauser made his film debut in 1992, and the follow year he had a small part in the period classic Dazed And Confused, which developed a reputation for featuring numerous future stars at the start of their careers. 

One of his fellow cast mates was Ben Affleck, with whom he reunited in 1997’s Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, which Affleck co-wrote with his costar Matt Damon.

In 2023, Affleck joked on the Bill Simmons Podcast about how ‘disturbed’ he was that his then-wife Jennifer Lopez was obsessed with Yellowstone, as she was particularly attached to the love story between Cole’s character Rip Wheeler and Kelly Reilly’s character Beth Dutton.

‘I was always mystified that Cole wasn’t a giant movie star,’ Damon added.

Hauser (second to right) made his film debut in 1992, and the follow year he had a small part in the period classic Dazed And Confused, which developed a reputation for featuring numerous future stars at the start of their careers — including his costars Ben Affleck (second to left)

In 2023, Affleck joked on the Bill Simmons Podcast about how ‘disturbed’ he was that his then-wife Jennifer Lopez was obsessed with Yellowstone, as she was particularly attached to the love story between Cole’s character Rip Wheeler and Kelly Reilly’s character Beth Dutton 

Hauser also starred with Affleck and Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, and Damon said on the podcast that they both thought Hauser was the most talented of their friends at the time; still from Yellowstone

‘When we worked with him, he was 16, I’ll never forget. [Ben and I] were driving back into Boston… leaving set for the first week, driving into Cambridge, and we’re like… “Leaving me and you out, who’s the f***ing best actor here?” 

‘And both of us, at the same time, were like, “Hauser.” He was raw talent; just astonishing…and just the sweetest soul,’ Damon said.

Affleck agreed that his old friend and costar was ‘very convincing’ as the Montana ranch foreman and enforcer for Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III.

‘I think America believes he is Rip,’ Affleck added.