Biography

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.

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Filmography

View Great Performances
Great Performances

Great Performances

1971Series
5.8
View The Notebook
The Notebook

The Notebook

2004Film
7.9
View Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down

2001Film
7.4
View Bloodline
Bloodline

Bloodline

2015Series
7.1
View Tony Awards
Tony Awards

Tony Awards

1956Series0
View Brothers
Brothers

Brothers

2009Film
7.3
View Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

1968Series
6.6
View Swordfish
Swordfish

Swordfish

2001Film
6.3
View The Right Stuff
The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff

1983Film
7.4
View The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2007Film
7.1
View Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven

Days of Heaven

1978Film
7.5
View Safe House
Safe House

Safe House

2012Film
6.5