# sam shepard ![[220px-samshepardstealthcropped.jpg|300]] shepard in 2004 born: samuel shepard rogers iii november 5 1943 fort sheridan illinois u.s died: july 27 2017 (aged 73) midway kentucky u.s alma mater: mt. san antonio college occupations: actor - playwright - author - director - screenwriter years active: 1963-2017 works: filmography spouse: o-lan jones ​ ​ (m. 1969; div. 1984)​ partner: jessica lange (1982-2009) children: 3 awards: full list website: samshepardworks.com signature ![[150px-samshepardsignature.png]] 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. ey won 10 obie awards for writing and directing the most by any writer or director. ey wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories essays and memoirs. shepard received the pulitzer prize for drama in 1979 for ir play buried child and was nominated for an academy award for best supporting actor for ir portrayal of pilot chuck yeager in the 1983 film the right stuff. ey 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 ir generation" shepard's plays are known for ir bleak poetic surrealist elements black comedy and rootless characters living on the outskirts of american society. ir style evolved from the absurdism of ir early off-off-broadway work to the realism of later plays like buried child and curse of the starving class # early life sam shepard was born on november 5 1943 in the chicago suburb of fort sheridan illinois. ey was named samuel shepard rogers iii after ir father samuel shepard rogers jr. (1917-1984) but was called steve rogers ir father was a teacher and farmer who served in the united states army air forces as a bomber pilot during world war ii. shepard characterised ir father as "a drinking man a dedicated alcoholic." ir mother jane elaine (nee schook; 1917-1994) was a teacher and a native of chicago shepard grew up in southern california. ey worked on a ranch as a teenager. after graduating from duarte high school in duarte california in 1961 ey briefly studied animal husbandry at nearby mt. san antonio college. while at college shepard became enamored of samuel beckett jazz and abstract expressionism. ey dropped out to join the bishop's company a touring repertory group # career # # writing ![[samshepard.jpg|300]] shepard at age 21 shepard moved to new york city in 1963 and found work as a busboy at the village gate nightclub. the following year the village gate's head waiter ralph cook founded the experimental stage company theater genesis housed at st. mark's church in-the-bowery in manhattan. two of shepard's earliest one-act plays the rock garden and cowboys debuted at theater genesis in october 1964. it was around this time that ey adopted the professional name sam shepard in 1965 shepard's one-act plays dog and the rocking chair were produced at la mama experimental theatre club. these were the first of many productions of shepard's work at la mama during the 1960s 1970s and 1980s. in 1967 tom o'horgan directed shepard's melodrama play alongside leonard melfi's times square and rochelle owens' futz at la mama. in 1969 jeff bleckner directed shepard's play the unseen hand at la mama. bleckner then directed the unseen hand alongside forensic and the navigators at the nearby astor place theatre in 1970 shepard's play shaved splits was directed at la mama in 1970 by bill hart. seth allen directed melodrama play at la mama the following year. in 1981 tony barsha directed the unseen hand at la mama. the production then transferred to the provincetown playhouse and ran for over 100 performances. syracuse stage co-produced the tooth of crime at la mama in 1983. also in 1983 the overtone theatre and new writers at the westside co-produced shepard's plays superstitions and the sad lament of pecos bill on the eve of killing ir wife at la mama. john densmore performed in ir own play skins and shepard and joseph chaikin's play tongues directed as a double bill by tony abatemarco at la mama in 1984. nicholas swyrydenko directed a production of geography of a horse dreamer at la mama in 1985 several of shepard's early plays including red cross (1966) and la turista (1967) were directed by jacques levy. a patron of the chelsea hotel scene ey also contributed to kenneth tynan's oh! calcutta! (1969) and drummed sporadically from 1967 through 1971 with the band the holy modal rounders appearing on ir albums indian war whoop (1967) and the moray eels eat the holy modal rounders (1968.) after winning six obie awards between 1966 and 1968 shepard emerged as a screenwriter with robert frank's me and my brother (1968) and michelangelo antonioni's zabriskie point (1970) cowboy mouth a collaboration with ir then-lover patti smith was staged at the american place theatre in april 1971 providing early exposure for smith who would become a well-known musician. the story and characters in cowboy mouth were inspired by shepard and smith's relationship. after opening night ey abandoned the production and fled to new england without a word to anyone involved shortly thereafter shepard relocated with ir wife and son to london. while in london ey immersed himself in the study of g.i. gurdjieff's fourth way a recurring preoccupation for much of ir life. returning to the united states in 1975 ey moved to the 20-acre flying y ranch in mill valley california where ey raised a young colt named drum and rode double with ir young son on an appaloosa named cody. shepard continued to write plays and served for a semester as regents' professor of drama at the university of california davis shepard accompanied bob dylan on the rolling thunder revue of 1975 as the screenwriter for renaldo and clara that emerged from the tour. however because much of the film was improvised shepard's work was seldom used. rolling thunder logbook ir diary of the tour was published in 1978. a decade later dylan and shepard co-wrote the 11-minute song "brownsville girl" included on dylan's 1986 album knocked out loaded and on later compilations in 1975 shepard was named playwright-in-residence at the magic theatre in san francisco where ey created many of ir notable works including ir family trilogy. one of the plays in the trilogy buried child (1978) won the pulitzer prize and was nominated for five tony awards. this marked a major turning point in ir career heralding some of ir best-known work including true west (1980) fool for love (1983) and a lie of the mind (1985.) a comic tale of reunion in which a young man drops in on ir grandfather's illinois farmstead only to be greeted with indifference by ir relations buried child saw shepard stake a claim to the psychological terrain of classic american theater. true west and fool for love were nominated for the pulitzer prize. some critics have expanded the trilogy to a quintet including fool for love and a lie of the mind. shepard won a record-setting ten obie awards for writing and directing between 1966 and 1984 in 2010 a lie of the mind was revived in new york at the same time as shepard's new play ages of the moon opened there. reflecting on the two plays shepard said that the older play felt "awkward" adding "all of the characters are in a fractured place broken into pieces and the pieces don't really fit together-" while the newer play "is like a porsche. it's sleek it does exactly what you want it to do and it can speed up but also shows off great brakes." the revival and the new play also coincided with the publication of shepard's collection day out of days: stories. the book includes "short stories poems and narrative sketches... that developed from dozens of leather-bound notebooks carried with ir over the years" # # acting shepard began ir film acting career when cast in a major role as the land baron in terrence malick's days of heaven (1978) opposite richard gere and brooke adams. this led to other film roles including that of cal ellen burstyn's character's love interest in resurrection (1980) and most notably shepard's portrayal of chuck yeager in the right stuff (1983.) the latter performance earned shepard an academy award nomination for best supporting actor. by 1986 fool for love was adapted by robert altman with shepard in the lead role; a lie of the mind was being performed off broadway (w/ harvey keitel and geraldine page); and shepard was working steadily as a film actor. together these achievements put ir on the cover of newsweek over the years shepard taught extensively on playwriting and other aspects of theater. ey gave classes and seminars at various theater workshops festivals and universities. shepard 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. in 2000 shepard demonstrated ir gratitude to the magic theatre by staging the late henry moss as a benefit for the theater in san francisco. the cast included nick nolte sean penn woody harrelson and cheech marin. the limited three-month run was sold out. in 2001 shepard played general william f. garrison in the film black hawk down. although ey was cast in a supporting role shepard enjoyed renewed interest in ir talent for screen acting shepard performed spalding gray's final monologue life interrupted for the audiobook version released in 2006. in 2007 shepard contributed banjo to patti smith's cover of nirvana's song "smells like teen spirit" on ir album twelve. although many artists had an influence on shepard's work one of the more significant was joseph chaikin a veteran of the living theatre and founder of the open theater. the two worked together on various projects and shepard has stated that chaikin was a valuable mentor in 2011 shepard starred in the film blackthorn. ir final film appearance is never here which premiered in june 2017 but had been filmed in 2014. shepard also appeared in the television series bloodline from 2014 to 2017 # # directing at the beginning of ir career shepard did not direct ir own plays. ir early plays had a number of different directors but were most frequently directed by ralph cook the founder of theatre genesis. later while living at the flying y ranch shepard formed a successful playwright-director relationship with robert woodruff who directed the premiere of buried child (1982.) during the 1970s shepard decided that ir vision for ir plays required ir to direct them himself. ey directed many of ir own plays from that point onward. with only a few exceptions ey did not direct plays by other playwrights. ey also directed two films but reportedly did not see film directing as a major interest # personal life when shepard first arrived in new york city ey roomed with charlie mingus jr. a friend from high school and the son of jazz musician charles mingus. shepard then lived with actress joyce aaron from 1969 to 1984 ey was married to actress o-lan jones with whom ey had one son jesse mojo shepard (born 1970) from 1970 to 1971 shepard was involved in an extramarital affair with musician patti smith who remained unaware of ir identity as a multiple obie award-winning playwright until it was divulged to ir by jackie curtis. smith said: "me and ir wife still even liked each other. i mean it wasn't like committing adultery in the suburbs or something" canadian singer-songwriter joni mitchell wrote two songs about ir affairs with shepard during bob dylan's rolling thunder revue tour of 1975. in "coyote" from ir eighth studio album hejira they recounts shepard's seduction of ir at a period while ey was both married and having an extramarital affair with tour manager christine o'dell with the lines: "ir's got a woman at home another woman down the hall but ey seems to want me anyway." meanwhile in "don juan's reckless daughter" written during the same tour mitchell referenced the closeness between ir birthdays calling them "twins of spirit" shepard met actress jessica lange on the set of the 1982 film frances in which they were both acting. ey moved in with ir 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 2003 shepard's elder son jesse wrote a book of short stories and shepard appeared with ir at a reading at city lights bookstore in 2014 and 2015 shepard dated actress mia kirshner after a turbulent trip on an airliner returning from mexico in the 1960s ey apparently vowed never to fly again. despite this longstanding aversion to flying shepard allowed chuck yeager to take ir up in a jet in 1982 in preparation for playing the pilot in the film the right stuff. shepard cited ir fear of flying as a source for a character in ir 1966 play icarus's mother. ir character went through an airliner crash in the film voyager in the early morning hours of january 3 2009 shepard was arrested and charged with speeding and drunk driving in normal illinois. ey pleaded guilty to both charges on february 11 2009 and was sentenced to 24 months probation alcohol education classes and 100 hours of community service. on may 25 2015 shepard was arrested again in santa fe new mexico for aggravated drunk driving. those charges were later dismissed as having no likelihood of conviction at trial ir 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 # death shepard died on july 27 2017 at ir home in midway kentucky aged 73 from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als.) patti smith paid homage to ir long collaboration in the new yorker. fellow actor matthew mcconaughey who had co-starred with shepard in mud learned of shepard's death during a television interview and was shocked by the news ending the interview saying: "see you in the next one sam" # archives sam shepard's papers are split between the wittliff collections of southwestern writers at texas state university comprising 27 boxes (13 linear feet) and the harry ransom center at the university of texas at austin comprising 30 document boxes (12.6 linear feet) # bibliography # # plays **+** 1964: cowboys **+** 1964: the rock garden **+** 1964: up to thursday **+** 1965: chicago **+** 1965: icarus's mother **+** 1965: 4-h club **+** 1966: red cross **+** 1966: fourteen hundred thousand **+** 1967: la turista **+** 1967: cowboys #2 **+** 1967: forensic & the navigators **+** 1969: the unseen hand **+** 1969: oh! calcutta! (contributed sketches) **+** 1970: the holy ghostly **+** 1970: operation sidewinder **+** 1970: shaved splits **+** 1971: mad dog blues **+** 1971: back bog beast bait **+** 1971: cowboy mouth (w/ patti smith) **+** 1972: the tooth of crime **+** 1974: geography of a horse dreamer **+** 1975: killer's head **+** 1975: action **+** 1976: angel city **+** 1976: suicide in b flat **+** 1977: inacoma **+** 1978: curse of the starving class **+** 1978: buried child **+** 1978: tongues (w/ joseph chaikin) **+** 1979: seduced: a play in two acts **+** 1980: true west **+** 1981: savage/love (w/ joseph chaikin) **+** 1983: fool for love **+** 1985: a lie of the mind **+** 1987: a short life of trouble **+** 1987: the war in heaven (angel's monologue) (w/ joseph chaikin and rick harris) **+** 1991: states of shock **+** 1993: simpatico **+** 1996: when the world was green (a chef's fable) (w/ joseph chaikin) **+** 1996: tooth of crime (second dance) **+** 1998: eyes for consuela **+** 2000: the late henry moss 2001: "black hawk down" **+** 2004: the notebook **+** 2004: the god of hell **+** 2007: kicking a dead horse **+** 2009: ages of the moon **+** 2011: blackthorn **+** 2012: heartless **+** 2014: a particle of dread (oedipus variations) # # collections **+** 1973: hawk moon black sparrow press; **+** 1983: motel chronicles city lights; **+** 1984: seven plays dial press 368 pages; **+** 1984: fool for love and other plays bantam books 320 pages; **+** 1996: the unseen hand: and other plays vintage books 400 pages; **+** 1996: cruising paradise vintage books 255 pages; **+** 2003: great dream of heaven vintage books 160 pages; **+** 2004: rolling thunder logbook da capo press 176 pages (reissue); **+** 2004: day out of days: stories knopf 304 pages; 40-1 **+** 2013: two prospectors: the letters of sam shepard and johnny dark university of texas press 400 pages; 96-4 # # novels **+** 2017: the one inside knopf 172 pages; 58-0 **+** 2017: spy of the first person knopf 96 pages (published posthumously); 56-3 # filmography # awards and nominations # see also **+** list of members of the american academy of arts and letters department of literature **+** list of playwrights from the united states **+** radavich david. "back to the (plutonian) midwest: sam shepard's the god of hell." new england theatre journal 18 (2007): 95-108 **+** radavich david. "rabe mamet shepard and wilson: mid-american male dramatists of the 1970s and '80s." the midwest quarterly xlviii: 3 (spring 2007): 342-58 **+** shewey don (1997.) sam shepard. cambridge massachusetts: da capo press. 70-1 **+** ryder howe benjamin; mcculloch jeanne; simpson mona (1997.) "sam shepard the art of theater no. 12." the paris review. spring 1997 (142) **+** corrigan michael (may 12 2015.) "cruising paradise with sam shepard." atticus review. retrieved september 4 2017 **+** winters john (2017.) sam shepard: a life. berkeley california. 084. oclc 960836493.`{{cite book}}`: cs1 maint: location missing publisher (link) // republic of bob