SAM SHEPARD
November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017 (age 73)
Cause of Death: Complications from ALS
Actor Sam Shepard got his first big break in Terrence Malick’s second film “Days Of Heaven,” where he played the Farmer. His next major performance, in Philip Kaufman’s Academy Award winning “The Right Stuff” would earn him a Best Supporting Actor nomination that year’s Oscars, which he lost to Jack Nicholson in “Terms Of Endearment.” His career featured roles in “Black Hawk Down,” “The Pledge,” “Swordfish,” “Safe House,” “August: Osage County,” and my personal favorite of his starring roles, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” He would play an aged version of Butch Cassidy in “Blackthorn” and would have a seven episode run on the Netflix series “Bloodline.” Shepard was also an excellent writer and author of about 44 plays, one which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979, a play titled “Buried Child.” Although he has passed, his legacy in words and pictures will always live on.
SAM SHEPARD’S ACADEMY AWARDS
| 1984 | The Right Stuff |
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor |
SAM SHEPARD’S FILMOGRAPHY
| 1970 | Brand X |
Unknown |
| 1978 | Renaldo And Clara |
Rodeo (also co-writer) |
| 1978 | Days Of Heaven |
The Farmer |
| 1980 | The Resurrection |
Cal Carpenter |
| 1981 | Raggedy Man |
Bailey |
| 1982 | Frances |
Harry York |
| 1983 | The Right Stuff |
Chuck Yeager |
| 1984 | Country |
Gilbert “Gil” Ivy |
| 1985 | Fool For Love |
Eddie (also writer) |
| 1986 | Crimes Of The Heart |
Doc Porter |
| 1987 | Baby Boom |
Dr. Jeff Cooper |
| 1989 | Steel Magnolias |
Spud Jones |
| 1990 | Bright Angel |
Jack |
| 1991 | Voyager |
Walter Faber |
| 1991 | Defenseless |
Detective Beutel |
| 1992 | Thunderheart | Frank Coutelle |
| 1993 | The Pelican Brief |
Thomas Callahan |
| 1994 | Safe Passage |
Patrick Singer |
| 1997 | The Only Thrill |
Reece McHenry |
| 1998 | Curtain Call |
Will Dodge |
| 1999 | Snow Falling On Cedars |
Arthur Chambers |
| 2000 | Hamlet | Ghost |
| 2000 | All The Pretty Horses |
J.C. Franklin |
| 2001 | The Pledge |
Eric Pollack |
| 2001 | Swordfish |
James Reisman |
| 2001 | Black Hawk Down |
William F. Garrison |
| 2002 | Leo | Vic |
| 2003 | Blind Horizon |
Sheriff Jack Kolb |
| 2004 | The Notebook |
Frank Calhoun |
| 2005 | Don’t Come Knocking |
Howard Spence (also co-writer) |
| 2005 | Stealth | George Cummings |
| 2006 | Bandidas | Bill Buck |
| 2006 | Walker Payne |
Syrus |
| 2006 | The Return |
Ed Mills |
| 2006 | Charlotte’s Web |
Narrator (voice) |
| 2007 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford |
Frank James |
| 2008 | The Accidental Husband |
Wilder Lloyd |
| 2008 | Felon |
Gordon Camrose |
| 2009 | Brothers |
Hank Cahill |
| 2010 | Fair Game |
Sam Plame |
| 2010 | Inhale | James Harrison |
| 2011 | Blackthorn | Butch Cassidy |
| 2012 | Darling Companion |
Sheriff Morris |
| 2012 | Safe House |
Harlan Whitford |
| 2012 | Killing Them Softly |
Dillon |
| 2012 | Mud | Tom Blankenship |
| 2013 | Savannah |
Mr. Stubbs |
| 2013 | August: Osage County |
Beverly Weston |
| 2013 | Out Of The Furnace |
Gerald “Red” Baze |
| 2014 | Cold In July |
Ben Russell |
| 2015 | Ithaca |
Willie Grogan |
| 2016 | Midnight Special |
Calvin Meyer |
| 2016 | In Dubious Battle |
Mr. Anderson |
| 2017 | Never Here |
Paul Stark |
SAM SHEPARD’S TELEVISION APPEARANCES
| 1995 | The Good Old Boys |
Tarnell | Television movie |
| 1996 | Lily Dale |
Pete Davenport | Television movie |
| 1999 | Streets Of Laredo |
Pea Eye Parker | Television mini-series (3 Episodes) |
| 1999 | Purgatory | Sheriff Forrest / Wild Bill Hickok | Television movie |
| 1999 | Dash And Lilly |
Dashiell Hammett | Television movie |
| 2000 | One Kill |
Major Nelson Gray | Television movie |
| 2000 | Great Performances |
Narrator (voice) | Episode: “Kurosawa” |
| 2001 | After The Harvest |
Caleb Gare | Television movie |
| 2001 | Shot In The Heart |
Frank Gilmore, Sr. | Television movie |
| 2007 | Ruffian |
Frank Whiteley | Television movie |
| 2010 | Tough Trade |
n/a | Episode: “Pilot” |
| 2014 | Klondike | Father Judge | 6 Episodes |
| 2015-2017 | Bloodline |
Robert Rayburn | 7 Episodes |
