profile

    Sam Shepard

    1943-11-05 (81 years old) in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, USA

    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).

    Movies

    poster
    California Typewriter
    69 %|Aug 18, 2017
    Documentary
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    Never Here
    54 %|Jun 18, 2017
    Drama, Thriller
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    In Dubious Battle
    59 %|Oct 8, 2016
    Drama
    poster
    Midnight Special
    62.38 %|Feb 18, 2016
    Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction
    poster
    Ithaca
    53 %|Oct 29, 2015
    Drama
    poster
    Cold in July
    66 %|May 23, 2014
    Drama, Thriller
    poster
    August: Osage County
    68.48 %|Dec 26, 2013
    Comedy, Drama
    poster
    Out of the Furnace
    66 %|Nov 9, 2013
    Thriller, Drama, Crime
    poster
    Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
    66 %|Sep 11, 2013
    Documentary
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    Mud
    70.59 %|Apr 26, 2013
    Drama
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    Savannah
    62 %|Apr 25, 2013
    Romance, History, Drama, Family
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    Shepard & Dark
    59 %|Sep 11, 2012
    Documentary
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    Killing Them Softly
    60 %|Jul 30, 2012
    Crime, Thriller
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    Darling Companion
    50 %|Apr 20, 2012
    Drama, Romance, Comedy
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    Safe House
    65 %|Feb 8, 2012
    Action, Thriller
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    Blackthorn
    65.78999999999999 %|Jul 1, 2011
    Adventure, Action, Western
    poster
    Inhale
    60 %|Aug 27, 2010
    Drama, Action, Thriller
    poster
    Fair Game
    64.88000000000001 %|May 20, 2010
    Drama, Thriller
    poster
    Brothers
    73.2 %|Dec 2, 2009
    Drama, Thriller, War
    poster
    Felon
    71.57 %|Jul 17, 2008
    Crime, Drama, Thriller
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    Patti Smith: Dream of Life
    60 %|Apr 2, 2008
    Documentary, Music
    poster
    The Accidental Husband
    55 %|Feb 29, 2008
    Comedy, Romance
    poster
    The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose
    0 %|Dec 7, 2007
    Documentary, Music
    poster
    Ruffian
    87 %|Jun 9, 2007
    Drama, TV Movie
    poster
    Charlotte's Web
    62.05 %|Dec 7, 2006
    Comedy, Family, Fantasy
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    The Return
    61 %|Nov 10, 2006
    Horror, Drama, Thriller
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    Walker Payne
    43 %|Apr 27, 2006
    Drama
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    Bandidas
    60 %|Jan 18, 2006
    Action, Comedy, Western, Crime
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    Don't Come Knocking
    62 %|Aug 25, 2005
    Drama, Western
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    Stealth
    54 %|Jul 27, 2005
    Science Fiction
    poster
    Trudell
    58 %|Jan 20, 2005
    Documentary
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    The Notebook
    79 %|Jun 25, 2004
    Romance, Drama
    poster
    Blind Horizon
    57 %|Dec 14, 2003
    Thriller
    poster
    Leo
    64 %|Mar 12, 2002
    Drama
    poster
    Black Hawk Down
    73.86 %|Dec 28, 2001
    Action, War, History
    poster
    Shot in the Heart
    59 %|Oct 13, 2001
    Drama, TV Movie
    poster
    Swordfish
    62.38 %|Jun 8, 2001
    Action, Crime, Thriller
    poster
    After the Harvest
    0 %|May 29, 2001
    Drama
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    The Pledge
    65.42 %|Jan 19, 2001
    Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
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    Kurosawa
    67 %|Dec 24, 2000
    Documentary
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    All the Pretty Horses
    57 %|Dec 11, 2000
    Drama, Romance, Western
    poster
    One Kill
    63 %|Aug 6, 2000
    Crime, Drama, TV Movie
    poster
    Hamlet
    57.69 %|May 12, 2000
    Drama
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    Snow Falling on Cedars
    60.22 %|Dec 22, 1999
    Drama, Romance
    poster
    Dash and Lilly
    80 %|May 31, 1999
    Drama, TV Movie
    poster
    Purgatory
    73 %|Jan 10, 1999
    Fantasy, Western, TV Movie
    poster
    Curtain Call
    50 %|Dec 5, 1998
    Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Drama
    poster
    The Only Thrill
    44 %|Jan 4, 1997
    Drama, Romance, TV Movie
    poster
    Lily Dale
    20 %|Jun 9, 1996
    Drama, TV Movie
    poster
    The Good Old Boys
    67 %|Mar 5, 1995
    Western, Adventure, TV Movie
    poster
    Dear Antonioni
    0 %|Jan 1, 1995
    Documentary
    poster
    Safe Passage
    60 %|Dec 1, 1994
    Drama
    poster
    Made in the USA
    20 %|Sep 25, 1993
    Documentary
    poster
    The Pelican Brief
    65.92 %|Sep 17, 1993
    Thriller
    poster
    Thunderheart
    62.5 %|Apr 3, 1992
    Crime, Mystery, Thriller
    poster
    Defenseless
    50 %|Aug 23, 1991
    Thriller, Mystery
    poster
    Voyager
    62.14 %|Mar 21, 1991
    Romance, Drama
    poster
    Bright Angel
    46 %|Nov 1, 1990
    Drama, Thriller
    poster
    Steel Magnolias
    72 %|Nov 15, 1989
    Comedy, Drama, Romance
    poster
    MaMa's Pushcart
    0 %|Jan 1, 1988
    poster
    Baby Boom
    63 %|Oct 7, 1987
    Drama, Comedy, Romance
    poster
    Crimes of the Heart
    61 %|Dec 12, 1986
    Comedy, Drama
    poster
    Fool for Love
    58 %|Dec 6, 1985
    Drama, Romance
    poster
    Country
    64 %|Sep 29, 1984
    Drama
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    The Right Stuff
    74 %|Oct 20, 1983
    Drama, History, Adventure
    poster
    Frances
    69 %|Dec 3, 1982
    Drama
    poster
    Raggedy Man
    52 %|Sep 18, 1981
    Drama
    poster
    Resurrection
    65 %|Sep 26, 1980
    Drama, Fantasy
    poster
    Days of Heaven
    75.07 %|Sep 13, 1978
    Drama, Romance
    poster
    Renaldo and Clara
    81 %|Jan 25, 1978
    Drama, Music
    poster
    Brand X
    40 %|May 18, 1970
    Comedy

    Series

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    Bloodline
    71 %|Mar 20, 2015
    Drama
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    Klondike
    71 %|Jan 20, 2014
    Drama, Western
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    Streets of Laredo
    62 %|Nov 12, 1995
    Western, Drama
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    Great Performances
    49 %|Jan 28, 1971
    Comedy, Documentary, Drama
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    Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
    64 %|Sep 9, 1967
    Comedy
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    Tony Awards
    50 %|Apr 1, 1956