Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Samuel Shepard Rogers , Сем Шепард , سم شپارد , سام شپارد

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Fort Sheridan, Illinois, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 90

TV Involvements: 4


Most Famous Work

Biography

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).

Most Famous Work

Brothers
Average
7

Brothers

(2009) Hank Cahill
The Notebook
Average
8

The Notebook

(2004) Frank Calhoun
Black Hawk Down
Average
7

Black Hawk Down

(2001) Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison
Swordfish
Average
6

Swordfish

(2001) Senator James Reisman
Midnight Special
Average
6

Midnight Special

(2016) Calvin Meyer
The Pelican Brief
Average
7

The Pelican Brief

(1993) Thomas Callahan
Bloodline
Average
7

Bloodline

(2015) Robert Rayburn
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Average
7

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2019 The Writer
2017 Self
Paul Stark
2016 Mr. Anderson
Calvin Meyer
2015 Willie Grogan
Robert Rayburn
2014 Russell
Father Judge
2013 Beverly Weston
Gerald 'Red' Baze
Self
Tom
Mr. Stubbs
2012 Self
Dillon
Sheriff Morris
Harlan Whitford
2011 James Blackthorn
2010 James Harrison
Sam Plame
2009 Hank Cahill
2008 Gordon
Self
Wilder
2007 Self
Frank James
Frank Whiteley
2006 Narrator (voice)
Ed Mills
Syrus
Bill Buck
2005 Howard
George Cummings
Self - Playwright, Actor (Thunderheart)
2004 Frank Calhoun
2003 Sheriff Jack Kolb
Self
2002 Self
Vic
2001 MG William F. Garrison
Frank Gilmore, Sr.
Senator Reisman
Caleb Gare
Eric Pollack
2000 Narrator (voice)
J.C. Franklin
Maj. Nelson Gray
Ghost
1999 Arthur Chambers
Dashiell Hammett
Sheriff Forrest / Wild Bill Hickock
1998 Will Dodge
1997 Reece McHenry
1996 Pete Davenport
1995 Pea Eye Parker
Tarnell
Self
1994 Patrick
1993 Self
Thomas Callahan
1992 Frank Coutelle
1991 Det. Beutel
Walter Faber
1990 Jack Russell
1989 Spud Jones
1988 N/A
1987 Dr. Jeff Cooper
1986 Doc Porter
1985 Eddie
1984 Gil Ivy
1983 Chuck Yeager
1982 Harry York
1981 Bailey
1980 Cal
1978 The Farmer
Rodeo
1971 Self
1970 N/A
1968 Self (uncredited)
1956 Self - Nominee
Year Character Movie/Tv

Crew

Year Role Movie/Tv
2020 In Memory Of
2013 Acting Double
Year Role Movie/Tv

Writing

Directing

Year Role Movie/Tv
1993 Director
1988 Director
Year Role Movie/Tv

Sound

Year Role Movie/Tv
1982 Music
Year Role Movie/Tv

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