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.

Filmography

• 2020Tesla — In Memory Of
• 2019Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese — The Writer
• 2017Never Here — Paul Stark
• 2016Buried Child — Writer
• 2016In Dubious Battle — Mr. Anderson
• 2016Midnight Special — Calvin Meyer
• 2016True West — Writer
• Bloodline — Robert Rayburn
• 2015Ithaca — Willie Grogan
• 2014Cold in July — Russell
• Klondike — Father Judge
• 2013August: Osage County — Beverly Weston
• 2013Mud — Tom
• 2013Out of the Furnace — Gerald 'Red' Baze
• 2013Savannah — Mr. Stubbs
• 2013The Assassination of President Kennedy — Acting Double
• 2012Darling Companion — Sheriff Morris
• 2012Killing Them Softly — Dillon
• 2012Safe House — Harlan Whitford
• 2011Blackthorn — James Blackthorn
• 2010Fair Game — Sam Plame
• 2010Inhale — James Harrison
• 2009Brothers — Hank Cahill
• 2008Felon — Gordon
• 2008The Accidental Husband — Wilder
• 2007Ruffian — Frank Whiteley
• 2007The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford — Frank James
• 2006Bandidas — Bill Buck
• 2006Charlotte's Web — Narrator (voice)
• 2006The Return — Ed Mills
• 2006Walker Payne — Syrus
• 2005Don't Come Knocking — Howard, Writer
• 2005Stealth — George Cummings
• 2005Trudell — Self - Playwright, Actor (Thunderheart)
• 2004See You in My Dreams — Short Story, Writer
• 2004The Notebook — Frank Calhoun
• 2003Blind Horizon — Sheriff Jack Kolb
• 2002Leo — Vic
• 2002True West — Writer
• 2001After the Harvest — Caleb Gare
• 2001Black Hawk Down — Garrison
• 2001Shot in the Heart — Frank Gilmore, Sr.
• 2001Swordfish — Senator Reisman
• 2001The Pledge — Eric Pollack
• 2000All the Pretty Horses — J.C. Franklin
• 2000Hamlet — Ghost
• 2000Kurosawa — Narrator (voice)
• 2000One Kill — Maj. Nelson Gray
• 1999Dash and Lilly — Dashiell Hammett
• 1999Purgatory — Sheriff Forrest / Wild Bill Hickock
• 1999Simpatico — Theatre Play
• 1999Snow Falling on Cedars — Arthur Chambers
• 1998Curtain Call — Will Dodge
• 1997The Only Thrill — Reece McHenry
• 1996Lily Dale — Pete Davenport
• Streets of Laredo — Pea Eye Parker
• 1995The Good Old Boys — Tarnell
• 1994Curse of the Starving Class — Writer
• 1994Safe Passage — Patrick
• 1994Silent Tongue — Director, Writer
• 1993The Pelican Brief — Thomas Callahan
• 1992Thunderheart — Frank Coutelle
• 1991Defenseless — Det. Beutel
• 1991Voyager — Walter Faber
• 1990Bright Angel — Jack Russell
• 1989Steel Magnolias — Spud Jones
• 1988Far North — Director, Writer
• 1988MaMa's Pushcart
• 1987Baby Boom — Dr. Jeff Cooper
• 1986Crimes of the Heart — Doc Porter
• Alive from Off Center — Writer
• 1985Fool for Love — Eddie, Theatre Play, Screenplay
• 1984Country — Gil Ivy
• 1984Paris, Texas — Writer
• 1984True West — Writer
• 1983The Right Stuff — Chuck Yeager
• American Playhouse — Writer, Theatre Play
• 1982Frances — Harry York
• 1982Tongues — Music, Writer
• 1981Raggedy Man — Bailey
• 1981Savage/Love — Writer
• 1980Resurrection — Cal
• 1978Days of Heaven — The Farmer
• 1978Renaldo and Clara — Rodeo, Writer
• 1972Oh! Calcutta! — Writer
• 1970Brand X
• 1970Zabriskie Point — Screenplay
• 1969Me and My Brother — Writer
• Ages of the Moon — Theatre Play

Appearances as themselves (13)

• 2017California Typewriter — Self
• 2013Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction — Self
• 2012Shepard & Dark — Self
• 2008Patti Smith: Dream of Life — Self
• 2007The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose — Self
• 2003This So-Called Disaster — Self
• 2002Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick — Self
• 2002The Essence of Combat: Making 'Black Hawk Down' — Self
• 1995Dear Antonioni — Self
• 1993Made in the USA — Self
• Great Performances — Self
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In — Self (uncredited)
• Tony Awards — Self - Nominee