In recent years, Kevin Costner has been seen less on the big screens and more on his television series “Yellowstone.” Westerns have been good to Costner at the movies, with his most successful winning him two Oscars as producer and director of “Dances with Wolves” in 1990.

Costner almost had a career that ended before it really started. After very small roles in a number of big films such as Ron Howard’s “Night Shift” and the Jessica Lange vehicle “Frances” Costner then got what could have been a star-making role. However, his role as a suicide victim in flashback scenes for “The Big Chill” was cut by director Lawrence Kasdan. The same director wou would later make it up to Costner by casting him in a showy role in the film “Silverado.”

That western launched him into a terrific run during the 1980s and 1990s, with headlining movies such as “The Untouchables,...