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Sam Shepard
Actor, Writer, Director, Composer, Additional Credits
Born November 5, 1943Died July 27, 2017 (73 years)
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).
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).
Movies & Shows on Plex
Known For
Featured Videos
Filmography
| 2022 | Bonnie · as Garrison |
| 2019 | Rolling Thunder Revue · as The Writer |
| 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 (TV Series) · as Robert Rayburn |
| 2014 | Cold in July · as Russell |
| 2014 | Klondike (2014) (TV Series) · as Father Judge |
| 2013 | August: Osage County · as Beverly Weston |
| 2013 | Out of the Furnace · as Gerald 'red' Baze |
| 2013 | Savannah · as Mr. Stubbs |
| 2012 | |
| 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 | The Accidental Husband · as Wilder |
| 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 | Walker Payne · as Syrus |
| 2006 | Bandidas · as Bill Buck |
| 2005 | Don't Come Knocking · as Howard |
| 2005 | Stealth · as George Cummings |
| 2005 | The Return · as Ed Mills |
| 2004 | The Notebook · as Frank Calhoun |
| 2003 | Blind Horizon · as Sheriff Jack Kolb |
| 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 | 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 | It All Came True · as Will Dodge |
| 1997 | The Only Thrill · as Reece Mchenry |
| 1996 | |
| 1995 | Streets of Laredo (TV Series) · as Pea Eye Parker |
| 1995 | The Good Old Boys · as Tarnell |
| 1994 | Safe Passage · as Patrick |
| 1993 | The Pelican Brief · as Thomas Callahan |
| 1992 | Thunderheart · as Frank Coutelle |
| 1991 | Defenseless · as Det. Beutel |
| 1991 | |
| 1990 | Bright Angel · as Jack Russell |
| 1989 | Steel Magnolias · as Spud Jones |
| 1988 | P.O.V. (TV Series) · as Cast |
| 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 |
| 1970 |