Sam Shepard

Biography

Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any writer or director. Shepard received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for portraying 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 Shepard as "the greatest American playwright of his generation." Shepard's plays are known for their bleak, poetic, surrealist elements, black comedy, and rootless characters living on the outskirts of American society. His style evolved from the absurdism of his early off-off-Broadway work to the realism of later plays like Buried Child and Curse of the Starving Class.

Known For

Tony Awards

Great Performances

The Notebook

Black Hawk Down

Bloodline

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Brothers

Mud

All Movies (75)

• Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese2019 · as The Writer
• California Typewriter2017 · as Self
• Never Here2017 · as Paul Stark
• In Dubious Battle2016 · as Mr. Anderson
• Midnight Special2016 · as Calvin Meyer
• Ithaca2015 · as Willie Grogan
• Cold in July2014 · as Russell
• August: Osage County2013 · as Beverly Weston
• Out of the Furnace2013 · as Gerald 'Red' Baze
• Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction2013 · as Self
• Mud2013 · as Tom
• Savannah2013 · as Mr. Stubbs
• Shepard & Dark2012 · as Self
• Killing Them Softly2012 · as Dillon
• Darling Companion2012 · as Sheriff Morris
• Safe House2012 · as Harlan Whitford
• Blackthorn2011 · as James Blackthorn
• Inhale2010 · as James Harrison
• Fair Game2010 · as Sam Plame
• Brothers2009 · as Hank Cahill
• Felon2008 · as Gordon
• Patti Smith: Dream of Life2008 · as Self
• The Accidental Husband2008 · as Wilder
• The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose2007 · as Self
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford2007 · as Frank James
• Ruffian2007 · as Frank Whiteley
• Charlotte's Web2006 · as Narrator (voice)
• The Return2006 · as Ed Mills
• Walker Payne2006 · as Syrus
• Bandidas2006 · as Bill Buck
• Don't Come Knocking2005 · as Howard
• Stealth2005 · as George Cummings
• Trudell2005 · as Self - Playwright, Actor (Thunderheart)
• The Notebook2004 · as Frank Calhoun
• Blind Horizon2003 · as Sheriff Jack Kolb
• This So-Called Disaster2003 · as Self
• Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick2002 · as Self
• Leo2002 · as Vic
• Black Hawk Down2001 · as MG William F. Garrison
• Shot in the Heart2001 · as Frank Gilmore, Sr.
• Swordfish2001 · as Senator Reisman
• After the Harvest2001 · as Caleb Gare
• The Pledge2001 · as Eric Pollack
• Kurosawa2000 · as Narrator (voice)
• All the Pretty Horses2000 · as J.C. Franklin
• One Kill2000 · as Maj. Nelson Gray
• Hamlet2000 · as Ghost
• Snow Falling on Cedars1999 · as Arthur Chambers
• Dash and Lilly1999 · as Dashiell Hammett
• Purgatory1999 · as Sheriff Forrest / Wild Bill Hickock
• Curtain Call1998 · as Will Dodge
• The Only Thrill1997 · as Reece McHenry
• Lily Dale1996 · as Pete Davenport
• The Good Old Boys1995 · as Tarnell
• Dear Antonioni1995 · as Self
• Safe Passage1994 · as Patrick
• Made in the USA1993 · as Self
• The Pelican Brief1993 · as Thomas Callahan
• Thunderheart1992 · as Frank Coutelle
• Defenseless1991 · as Det. Beutel
• Voyager1991 · as Walter Faber
• Bright Angel1990 · as Jack Russell
• Steel Magnolias1989 · as Spud Jones
• MaMa's Pushcart1988
• Baby Boom1987 · as Dr. Jeff Cooper
• Crimes of the Heart1986 · as Doc Porter
• Fool for Love1985 · as Eddie
• Country1984 · as Gil Ivy
• The Right Stuff1983 · as Chuck Yeager
• Frances1982 · as Harry York
• Raggedy Man1981 · as Bailey
• Resurrection1980 · as Cal
• Days of Heaven1978 · as The Farmer
• Renaldo and Clara1978 · as Rodeo
• Brand X1970

All TV Shows (6)

• Bloodline2015 · as Robert Rayburn
• Klondike2014 · as Father Judge
• Streets of Laredo1995 · as Pea Eye Parker
• Great Performances1971 · as Self
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In1968 · as Self (uncredited)
• Tony Awards1956 · as Self - Nominee