Sam Shepard
Known for
Sam Shepard occupied a rare double position in American culture: a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who was also one of the screen's great weathered faces. Born in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, in 1943, he earned an Oscar nomination for 'The Right Stuff' (1983) and lent his laconic gravity to 'The Pelican Brief' (1993), 'Black Hawk Down' (2001), 'The Notebook' (2004), 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' (2007) and 'Mud' (2013). Whether playing generals, patriarchs or drifters, he embodied a mythic, taciturn American masculinity that felt carved from the same landscapes his plays explored. He died in 2017.
Sam Shepard
51 Movies
3 Series
Sam Shepard occupied a rare double position in American culture: a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who was also one of the screen's great weathered faces. Born in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, in 1943, he earned an Oscar nomination for 'The Right Stuff' (1983) and lent his laconic gravity to 'The Pelican Brief' (1993), 'Black Hawk Down' (2001), 'The Notebook' (2004), 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' (2007) and 'Mud' (2013). Whether playing generals, patriarchs or drifters, he embodied a mythic, taciturn American masculinity that felt carved from the same landscapes his plays explored. He died in 2017.
Movies
Plays Frank Calhoun
The Notebook
2004
Plays MG William F. Garrison
Black Hawk Down
2001
Plays Harlan Whitford
Safe House
2012
Plays Senator Reisman
Swordfish
2001
Plays Hank Cahill
Brothers
2009
Plays Frank James
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2007
Plays Spud Jones
Steel Magnolias
1989
Plays Thomas Callahan
The Pelican Brief
1993
Plays Tom
Mud
2013
Plays Sam Plame
Fair Game
2010
Plays Chuck Yeager
The Right Stuff
1983
Plays George Cummings
Stealth
2005
Plays Eric Pollack
The Pledge
2001
Plays Dillon
Killing Them Softly
2012
Plays Gordon
Felon
2008
Plays Dr. Jeff Cooper
Baby Boom
1987
Plays Gerald 'Red' Baze
Out of the Furnace
2013
Plays Beverly Weston
August: Osage County
2013
Plays Bill Buck
Bandidas
2006
Plays The Farmer
Days of Heaven
1978
Plays Frank Coutelle
Thunderheart
1992
Plays Wilder
The Accidental Husband
2008
Plays Russell
Cold in July
2014
Plays J.C. Franklin
All the Pretty Horses
2000
Plays Mr. Anderson
In Dubious Battle
2016
Plays Arthur Chambers
Snow Falling on Cedars
1999
Plays Walter Faber
Voyager
1991
Plays Sheriff Morris
Darling Companion
2012
Plays Paul Stark
Never Here
2017
Plays Ed Mills
The Return
2006
Plays Harry York
Frances
1982
Plays Ghost
Hamlet
2000
Plays James Blackthorn
Blackthorn
2011
Writer
Plays Howard
Don't Come Knocking
2005
Plays Sheriff Jack Kolb
Blind Horizon
2003
Plays Willie Grogan
Ithaca
2015
Plays Will Dodge
Curtain Call
1998
Plays Doc Porter
Crimes of the Heart
1986
Plays Syrus
Walker Payne
2006
Plays Reece McHenry
The Only Thrill
1997
Plays Bailey
Raggedy Man
1981
Plays Mr. Stubbs
Savannah
2013
Plays Jack Russell
Bright Angel
1990
Plays James Harrison
Inhale
2010
Plays Vic
Leo
2002
Plays Cal
Resurrection
1980
Plays Patrick
Safe Passage
1994
Plays Det. Beutel
Defenseless
1991
Plays Gil Ivy
Country
1984
Writer
Plays Eddie
Fool for Love
1985
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Full Filmography
Never Here
Paul Stark
2017
Film
In Dubious Battle
Mr. Anderson
2016
Film
Ithaca
Willie Grogan
2015
Film
Bloodline
Robert Rayburn · 13 episodes
2015–
TV
Klondike
Father Judge · 3 episodes
2014
TV
Cold in July
Russell
2014
Film
August: Osage County
Beverly Weston
2013
Film
Out of the Furnace
Gerald 'Red' Baze
2013
Film
Mud
Tom
2013
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sam Shepard still alive?
Sam Shepard passed away on July 27, 2017 at age 73.
What are the most famous roles of Sam Shepard?
Sam Shepard is best known for roles in The Notebook, Black Hawk Down, Brothers.
How many movies has Sam Shepard been in?
Over a 47-year career (since 1970), Sam Shepard has appeared in 51 movies and 2 TV shows.
What was Sam Shepard's first movie?
The career of Sam Shepard began with Brand X (1970).
What is Sam Shepard's most recent movie or series?
Sam Shepard's most recent release is Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, which premiered on June 11, 2019.
What TV shows has Sam Shepard appeared in?
On television, Sam Shepard has appeared in Bloodline, Klondike, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Streets of Laredo.
Sam Shepard
1943-11-05 · Fort Sheridan, Illinois, USA
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.