Sam Shepard
Biography
Sam Shepard was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter and musician who moved to New York City in 1963 after growing up in southern California and leaving college for a touring repertory company. His earliest one-act plays appeared at Theater Genesis in 1964, and he went on to write 58 plays marked by bleak, surrealist elements and black comedy. Buried Child earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, while True West and Fool for Love were Pulitzer nominees, and his ten Obie Awards, a record, honored his writing and his directing. He began acting in Days of Heaven (1978) and earned an Academy Award nomination for playing Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983), with later roles in Baby Boom (1987), Black Hawk Down (2001) and Blackthorn (2011). His final film appearance came in Never Here (2017), and he also appeared on the television series Bloodline between 2014 and 2017. He died in 2017.
73years old at death
- Born Fort Sheridan
- Died Midway
- Star sign: ScorpioThe sign runs October 23 to November 21
- Samuel Shepard Rogers III (birth name)Also credited as Samuel Shepard Rogers IV
Movie Career
- Films
- 48
- Career span
- 41 years1978 to 2019
Genres
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About the name
Around the time his first one-act plays, The Rock Garden and Cowboys, debuted at Theater Genesis in October 1964, Shepard took the professional name Sam Shepard.
First role
Sam Shepard's acting career started with the role of the land baron in Terrence Malick's 1978 film Days of Heaven, where he appeared alongside Richard Gere and Brooke Adams.
Early training
Shepard left college in order to become a member of the Bishop's Company, which was a repertory group that toured.
Behind the camera
Shepard directed Far North and Silent Tongue, two films, yet according to reports he did not consider film directing a major interest.
Sam Shepard movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Andrew Dominik directed two of these films, Jeff Nichols two. Julia Roberts appears in four of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Julia Roberts's page
Val Kilmer's page
Diane Keaton's page
Casey Affleck's page
Jessica Lange's page
Jeffrey DeMunn's page
All films by Andrew Dominik
All films by Jeff Nichols
Box office
What Sam Shepard's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$1.6 billion
35 of the 48 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 48 films: 35 worldwide figure; 7 us gross only; 2 never in cinemas; 1 streaming, short cinema run; 3 figure not found.
- 35Worldwide figure
- 7US gross only
- 2Never in cinemas
- 1Streaming, short cinema run
- 3Figure not found
Top grosser
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 72% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$208M12.9% of the total
- 2$195M12.1% of the total
- 3$173M10.8% of the total
- 4$149M9.3% of the total
- 5$147M9.1% of the total
- 6$116M7.2% of the total
- 7$96M6.0% of the total
- 8$77M4.8% of the total
$447 millionfrom the other 27 films with a worldwide figure, 28% of the total
Awards
Eight awards and honors from 1968 to 1979.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other honors | |||
| 1979 | Pulitzer Prize for Drama | Won | |
| 1971 | Guggenheim Fellowship | Won | |
| 1968 | Guggenheim Fellowship | Won | |
| Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | Won | ||
| New York Drama Critics Award | Won | ||
| Obie Award | Won | ||
| PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award | Won | ||
| Star on Playwrights' Sidewalk | Won | ||
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.