Sam Shepard

American playwright and actor (1943–2017)
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Samuel Shepard Rogers III 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 wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. Shepard received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child 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 Shepard as "the greatest American playwright of his generation."

Sam Shepard was born on November 5, 1943, in the Chicago suburb of Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He was named Samuel Shepard Rogers III after his father, Samuel Shepard Rogers Jr. (1917–1984), but was called Steve Rogers.

His father was a teacher and farmer who served in the United States Army Air Forces as a bomber pilot during World War II. Shepard characterized his father as "a drinking man, a dedicated alcoholic". His mother, Jane Elaine (née Schook; 1917–1994), was a teacher and a native of Chicago.

Shepard grew up in southern California. He worked on a ranch as a teenager. After graduating from Duarte High School in Duarte, California, in 1961, he briefly studied animal husbandry at nearby Mt. San Antonio College. While at college, Shepard became enamored of Samuel Beckett, jazz, and abstract expressionism. He dropped out to join the Bishop's Company, a touring repertory group.

Date of Birth5th November 1943
Date of Death27th July 2017
Age at Death73 Years
Zodiac SignScorpio
CountryUnited States of America
Current CityFort Sheridan
Birth PlaceFort Sheridan
NationalityUnited States of America
CitizenshipUnited States of America
SpousesO-Lan Jones
Education
Mt. San Antonio College, Duarte High School
Occupationactor, film director, screenwriter, dramaturge, playwright, stage actor, film actor, theatrical director, autobiographer, percussionist, musician
Awards
  • Guggenheim Fellowship
  • Pulitzer Prize for Drama
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Obie Award
  • New York Drama Critics Award
  • PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award
  • star on Playwrights' Sidewalk

Movies / Shows by Sam Shepard

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In Dubious Battle

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California Typewriter

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Midnight Special

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Ithaca

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Cold in July

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August: Osage County

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Savannah

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Out of the Furnace

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Mud

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Killing Them Softly

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Darling Companion

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Inhale