Sam Shepard
For the osteopath accused in a notable murder trial, see "Sam Sheppard". |
Actor Sam Shepard mulls over a scene in the motion picture "Stealth," while filming on June 15, 2004, aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. |
Sam Shepard (born
November 5,
1943) is an
American playwright,
writer and
actor.
He was born
Samuel Shepard Rogers in
Fort Sheridan, Illinois. His many works are known for being frank and often
absurd, and for having an authentic sense of the style and sensibility of the gritty modern
American west. Shepard is also a respected actor of stage and
motion pictures.
His play
Buried Child received a
Pulitzer Prize in
1979; other notable work includes
Curse of the Starving Class in
1978,
True West in
1980 and
A Lie of the Mind in
1985. He also continued with his collaboration with
Bob Dylan that started with the surrealist film
Renaldo & Clara on an epic, 11 minute song entitled "
Brownsville Girl", included on the
1986 Knocked Out Loaded album and later compilations.
In
1986, Shepard was elected to
The American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Shepard was previously married to actress
O-Lan Jones (born
O-Lan Barna) from
1969 to
1984, by whom he has one son, Jesse.
He met Oscar-winning actress
Jessica Lange on the set of a movie they both starred in,
Frances. He moved in with her in 1983, and currently lives with her and their two children in
Manhattan.
*
1964 Cowboys*
1964 The Rock Garden*
1965 Chicago*
1965 Icarus's Mother*
1965 4-H Club*
1966 Red Cross (disambiguation)*
1967 La Turista*
1967 Cowboys #2*
1967 Forensic & the Navigators*
1969 The Unseen Hand*
1969 Oh! Calcutta! (contributed sketches)
*
1970 The Holy Ghostly*
1970 Operation Sidewinder*
1971 Mad Dog Blues*
1971 Back Bog Beast Bait*
1971 Cowboy Mouth (co-written with
Patti Smith)
*
1972 The Tooth of Crime*
1978 Curse of the Starving Class *
1978 Tongues*
1977 Buried Child *
1980 True West*
1983 Fool for Love *
1985 A Lie of the Mind*
1993 Simpatico*
1995 Buried Child Revised*
2000 The Late Henry Moss*
2004 The God of HellShepard as an Actor
*
1970 Brand X*
1978 Renaldo and Clara - Rodeo
*
1978 Days of Heaven - The Farmer
*
1980 Resurrection - Cal Carpenter
*
1982 Frances - Harry York
*
1983 The Right Stuff - Chuck Yeager
*
1984 Paris, Texas*
1986 Crimes of the Heart - Doc Porter
*
1987 Baby Boom - Dr. Jeff Cooper
*
1989 Steel Magnolias - Spud Jones
*
1991 The Voyager - Walter Faber
*
1992 Thunderheart - Frank Coutelle
*
1993 The Pelican Brief - Professor Thomas Callahan
*
2000 Hamlet - The Ghost
*
2001 Black Hawk Down - Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison
*
2001 Kurosawa - Narrator
*
2001 Swordfish - Senator James Reisman
*
2001 The Pledge - Eric Pollack
*
2004 The Notebook - Frank Calhoun
*
2005 Don't Come Knocking - Howard
*
2005 Bandidas (post-production)
*
2005 Stealth - Capt. George Cummings
*
2006 The Return *
2006 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (post-production)
*
2006 PoseidonShepard as a Screenwriter
*
1970 Zabriskie Point, dir:
Michelangelo Antonioni*
1984 Paris, Texas, dir:
Wim Wenders*
1985 Fool for Love, dir:
Robert Altman*
2005 Don't Come Knocking, dir:
Wim Wenders*
Seven Plays,
Dial Press, 1984, 368 pages, ISBN 0553346113
*
Fool For Love and Other Plays, Bantam, 1984, 320 pages, ISBN 0553345907
*
The Unseen Hand: and Other Plays, Vintage, 1996, 400 pages, ISBN 0679767894
*
Cruising Paradise, Vintage, 1997, 255 pages, ISBN 0679742174
*
Great Dream Of Heaven Vintage, 2003, 160 pages, ISBN 0375704523
*
Rolling Thunder Logbook, Da Capo, 2004 reissue, 176 pages, ISBN 0306813718
*
Motel Chronicles, City Lights, 1983, ISBN 0872861430
In 1986, Shepard was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, and, in 1992, he received the
Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy.
In 1994 he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Of his 45+ plays, 11 of them have won
Obie Awards. He was nominated for two
Tony Awards for
Buried Child in 1996, and for
True West in 2000.
His play Buried Child received a Pulitzer Prize in 1979.
*
The Sam Shepard Web Site*
"Brownsville Girl," by Bob Dylan and Sam Shepard
