Sam Shepard

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

80

Gender

Male

Birthday

1943-11-05

Deathday

2017-07-27 (73 years old)

Place of Birth

Fort Sheridan, Illinois, USA

Also Known As

  • Samuel Shepard Rogers
  • Сем Шепард

Sam Shepard

Biography

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

The Notebook
7.9%

The Notebook

Jun 25, 2004

Black Hawk Down
7.4%

Black Hawk Down

Dec 28, 2001

Safe House
6.5%

Safe House

Feb 8, 2012

Brothers
7.3%

Brothers

Dec 2, 2009

Mud
7.1%

Mud

Apr 26, 2013

Swordfish
6.2%

Swordfish

Jun 8, 2001

Killing Them Softly
6.0%

Killing Them Softly

Jul 30, 2012

Out of the Furnace
6.6%

Out of the Furnace

Nov 9, 2013

Midnight Special
6.2%

Midnight Special

Feb 12, 2016

The Pelican Brief
6.6%

The Pelican Brief

Sep 17, 1993

August: Osage County
6.8%

August: Osage County

Dec 26, 2013

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Acting

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
Mud as Tom
2013
Savannah as Mr. Stubbs
2012
Shepard & Dark as Self
2012
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction 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
Stealth as George Cummings
2005
Don't Come Knocking as Howard
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
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
1956
Tony Awards as Self - Nominee

Crew

2020
Tesla as In Memory Of
2013
The Assassination of President Kennedy as Acting Double

Directing

1993
Silent Tongue as Director
1988
Far North as Director

Sound

1982
Tongues as Music

Writing

2016
Buried Child as Writer
2016
True West as Writer
2005
Don't Come Knocking as Writer
2004
See You in My Dreams as Short Story
2002
True West as Writer
1999
Simpatico as Theatre Play
1994
Curse of the Starving Class as Writer
1993
Silent Tongue as Writer
1988
Far North as Writer
1985
Fool for Love as Screenplay
1985
Fool for Love as Theatre Play
1984
Paris, Texas as Writer
1984
True West as Writer
1982
Tongues as Writer
1981
Savage/Love as Writer
1978
Renaldo and Clara as Writer
1972
Oh! Calcutta! as Writer
1970
Zabriskie Point as Screenplay
1969
Me and My Brother as Writer
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