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Sam Shepard

Actor

Sam Shepard

Born November 5, 1943 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, USADied July 27, 201761 films

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."

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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.

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The best way into Sam Shepard's work
The Notebook posterFirst watchThe Notebook20047.9as Frank CalhounAn epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is…View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
Black Hawk Down poster7.4Black Hawk Down2001Brothers poster7.3Brothers2009Mud poster7.1Mud2013The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford poster7.1The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford2007Safe House poster6.5Safe House2012Days of Heaven poster7.5Days of Heaven1978The Right Stuff poster7.4The Right Stuff1983August: Osage County poster6.9August: Osage County2013

Filmography

61 films as actor
  1. 2017Never HerePaul Stark
  2. 2016In Dubious BattleMr. Anderson
  3. 2016Midnight SpecialCalvin Meyer
  4. 2015IthacaWillie Grogan
  5. 2014Cold in JulyRussell
  6. 2013August: Osage CountyBeverly Weston
  7. 2013Out of the FurnaceGerald 'Red' Baze
  8. 2013MudTom
  9. 2013SavannahMr. Stubbs
  10. 2012Killing Them SoftlyDillon
  11. 2012Darling CompanionSheriff Morris
  12. 2012Safe HouseHarlan Whitford
  13. 2011BlackthornJames Blackthorn
  14. 2010InhaleJames Harrison
  15. 2010Fair GameSam Plame
  16. 2009BrothersHank Cahill
  17. 2008FelonGordon
  18. 2008The Accidental HusbandWilder
  19. 2007The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordFrank James
  20. 2007RuffianFrank Whiteley
  21. 2006Charlotte's WebNarrator (voice)
  22. 2006The ReturnEd Mills
  23. 2006Walker PayneSyrus
  24. 2006BandidasBill Buck
  25. 2005Don't Come KnockingHoward
  26. 2005StealthGeorge Cummings
  27. 2004The NotebookFrank Calhoun
  28. 2003Blind HorizonSheriff Jack Kolb
  29. 2002LeoVic
  30. 2001Black Hawk DownGarrison
  31. 2001Shot in the HeartFrank Gilmore, Sr.
  32. 2001SwordfishSenator Reisman
  33. 2001After the HarvestCaleb Gare
  34. 2001The PledgeEric Pollack
  35. 2000All the Pretty HorsesJ.C. Franklin
  36. 2000One KillMaj. Nelson Gray
  37. 2000HamletGhost
  38. 1999Snow Falling on CedarsArthur Chambers
  39. 1999Dash and LillyDashiell Hammett
  40. 1999PurgatorySheriff Forrest / Wild Bill Hickock
  41. 1998Curtain CallWill Dodge
  42. 1997The Only ThrillReece McHenry
  43. 1996Lily DalePete Davenport
  44. 1995The Good Old BoysTarnell
  45. 1994Safe PassagePatrick
  46. 1993The Pelican BriefThomas Callahan
  47. 1992ThunderheartFrank Coutelle
  48. 1991DefenselessDet. Beutel
  49. 1991VoyagerWalter Faber
  50. 1990Bright AngelJack Russell
  51. 1989Steel MagnoliasSpud Jones
  52. 1987Baby BoomDr. Jeff Cooper
  53. 1986Crimes of the HeartDoc Porter
  54. 1985Fool for LoveEddie
  55. 1984CountryGil Ivy
  56. 1983The Right StuffChuck Yeager
  57. 1982FrancesHarry York
  58. 1981Raggedy ManBailey
  59. 1980ResurrectionCal
  60. 1978Days of HeavenThe Farmer
  61. 1970Brand X