Sam Shepard
Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, director and screenwriter whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any writer or director. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child (which was nominated for five Tony Awards) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. He received the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award as a master American dramatist in 2009. New York magazine described him as "the greatest American playwright of his generation." He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. As an actor, his best known roles are as Calvin Meyer in Midnight Special, Robert Rayburn on Netflix's series Bloodline, Beverly Weston in August: Osage County, Harlan Whitford in Safe House, Hank Cahill in Brothers, Frank James in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, George Cummings in Stealth, Frank Calhoun in The Notebook, Master General William F. Garrison in Black Hawk Down, J.C. Franklin in All the Pretty Horses, Thomas Callahan in The Pelican Brief, Frank Coutelle in Thunderheart, Spud Jones in Steel Magnolias, Dr. Jeff Cooper in Baby Boom, Doc Porter in Crimes of the Heart, and Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff. Over the years, he taught extensively on playwriting and other aspects of theater. He gave classes and seminars at various theater workshops, festivals, and universities. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1986, and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986. From 1969 to 1984, he was married to actress O-Lan Jones, with whom he had one son, Jesse Mojo Shepard (born 1970). From 1970 to 1971, he was involved in an extramarital affair with musician Patti Smith. Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell wrote two songs about her affairs with him during Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour of 1975. In "Coyote", from her eighth studio album Hejira, she recounts his seduction of her at a period while he was both married and having an extramarital affair with tour manager Christine O'Dell with the lines: "He's got a woman at home, another woman down the hall, but he seems to want me anyway." He met actress Jessica Lange on the set of the 1982 film Frances, in which they both acted. He moved in with her in 1983, and they were together for 27 years; they separated in 2009. They had two children, Hannah Jane Shepard (born 1986) and Samuel Walker Shepard (born 1987). In 2014 and 2015, he dated actress Mia Kirshner. His 50-year friendship with Johnny Dark, stepfather to O-Lan Jones, was the subject of the 2013 documentary Shepard & Dark by Treva Wurmfeld. A collection of Shepard and Dark's correspondence, Two Prospectors, was also published that year. He died on July 27, 2017, at his home in Midway, KY, aged 73, from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Known For
Credits
- 2019 · Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese as The Writer
- 2017 · California Typewriter as Self
- 2017 · Never Here as Paul Stark
- 2016 · In Dubious Battle as Mr. Anderson
- 2016 · Midnight Special as Calvin Meyer
- 2015 · Ithaca as Willie Grogan
- 2015 · Bloodline as Robert Rayburn
- 2014 · Cold in July as Russell
- 2014 · Klondike as Father Judge
- 2013 · August: Osage County as Beverly Weston
- 2013 · Out of the Furnace as Gerald 'Red' Baze
- 2013 · Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction as Self
- 2013 · Mud as Tom
- 2013 · Savannah as Mr. Stubbs
- 2012 · Shepard & Dark as Self
- 2012 · Killing Them Softly as Dillon
- 2012 · Darling Companion as Sheriff Morris
- 2012 · Safe House as Harlan Whitford
- 2011 · Blackthorn as James Blackthorn
- 2010 · Inhale as James Harrison
- 2010 · Fair Game as Sam Plame
- 2009 · Brothers as Hank Cahill
- 2008 · Felon as Gordon
- 2008 · Patti Smith: Dream of Life as Self
- 2008 · The Accidental Husband as Wilder
- 2007 · The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose as Self
- 2007 · The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as Frank James
- 2007 · Ruffian as Frank Whiteley
- 2006 · Charlotte's Web as Narrator (voice)
- 2006 · The Return as Ed Mills
- 2006 · Walker Payne as Syrus
- 2006 · Bandidas as Bill Buck
- 2005 · Don't Come Knocking as Howard
- 2005 · Stealth as George Cummings
- 2005 · Trudell as Self - Playwright, Actor (Thunderheart)
- 2004 · The Notebook as Frank Calhoun
- 2003 · Blind Horizon as Sheriff Jack Kolb
- 2003 · This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs "The Late Henry Moss" as Self
- 2002 · Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick as Self
- 2002 · Leo as Vic
- 2001 · Black Hawk Down as MG William F. Garrison
- 2001 · Shot in the Heart as Frank Gilmore, Sr.
- 2001 · Swordfish as Senator James Reisman
- 2001 · After the Harvest as Caleb Gare
- 2001 · The Pledge as Eric Pollack
- 2000 · Kurosawa as Narrator (voice)
- 2000 · All the Pretty Horses as J.C. Franklin
- 2000 · One Kill as Maj. Nelson Gray
- 2000 · Hamlet as Ghost
- 1999 · Snow Falling on Cedars as Arthur Chambers
- 1999 · Dash and Lilly as Dashiell Hammett
- 1999 · Purgatory as Sheriff Forrest / Wild Bill Hickock
- 1998 · Curtain Call as Will Dodge
- 1997 · The Only Thrill as Reece McHenry
- 1996 · Lily Dale as Pete Davenport
- 1995 · Streets of Laredo as Pea Eye Parker
- 1995 · The Good Old Boys as Tarnell
- 1995 · Dear Antonioni as Self
- 1994 · Safe Passage as Patrick
- 1993 · Made in the USA as Self
- 1993 · The Pelican Brief as Thomas Callahan
- 1992 · Thunderheart as Frank Coutelle
- 1991 · Defenseless as Det. Beutel
- 1991 · Voyager as Walter Faber
- 1990 · Bright Angel as Jack Russell
- 1989 · Steel Magnolias as Spud Jones
- 1988 · MaMa's Pushcart as
- 1987 · Baby Boom as Dr. Jeff Cooper
- 1986 · Crimes of the Heart as Doc Porter
- 1985 · Fool for Love as Eddie
- 1984 · Country as Gil Ivy
- 1983 · The Right Stuff as Chuck Yeager
- 1982 · Frances as Harry York
- 1981 · Raggedy Man as Bailey
- 1980 · Resurrection as Cal
- 1978 · Days of Heaven as The Farmer
- 1978 · Renaldo and Clara as Rodeo
- 1971 · Great Performances as Self
- 1970 · Brand X as
- 1967 · Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as Self (uncredited)
- 1956 · Tony Awards as Self - Nominee