Sam Shepard Biography (1942?-)

Original name, Samuel Shepard Rogers VII; born November 5, 1942 (some sourcescite 1943), in Fort Sheridan, IL; son of Samuel Shepard (an army officer, teacher, and farmer) and Jane Elaine (maiden name, Schook) Rogers; married O-Lan Johnson Dark (some sources cite name as O-Lan Jones; an actress), November9, 1969 (divorced, 1984); companion of Jessica Lange (an actress); children:(first marriage) Jesse Mojo; (with Lange) Hannah Jane, Samuel Walker. Addresses: Agent: International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Writer, actor, director, composer
Birth Details: November 5, 1942?; Fort Sheridan, Illinois, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Film Appearances
Jo Saville (title role), Bronco Bullfrog, British Lion, 1970
Brand X, 1970
Rodeo hand, Renaldo and Clara, Circuit, 1977
Farmer, Days of Heaven, Paramount, 1978
Cal Carpenter, Resurrection, Universal, 1980
Bailey (title role), Raggedy Man, Universal, 1981
Harry York, Frances, Universal, 1982
Chuck Yeager, The Right Stuff, Warner Bros., 1983
Gil Ivy, Country, Buena Vista, 1984
Paris, Texas, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1984
Eddie, Fool for Love, Cannon, 1985
Doc Porter, Crimes of the Heart, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, 1986
Dr. Jeff Cooper, Baby Boom, United Artists, 1987
Spud Jones, Steel Magnolias, TriStar, 1989
The Hot Spot, Orion, 1990
George Beutel, Defenseless, Seven Arts, 1991
Jack Russell, Bright Angel, Hemdale, 1991
Frank Coutelle, Thunderheart, TriStar, 1992
Walter Faber, Voyager (also known as Homo Faber), Castle Hill, 1992
Professor Thomas Callahan, The Pelican Brief, Warner Bros., 1993
Patrick Singer, Safe Passage, New Line Cinema, 1994
Reece McHenry, The Only Thrill, Moonstone, 1997
Arthur Chambers, Snow Falling on Cedars, Universal, 1999
Ghost of Hamlet's father, Hamlet, Miramax, 1999
Just to Be Together (also known as Tanto per stare insieme), 1999
J. C. Franklin, All the Pretty Horses, Miramax, 2000
Eric Pollack, The Pledge, Warner Bros., 2001
Major General William F. Garrison, Black Hawk Down, Columbia, 2001
Senator Reisman, Swordfish, Warner Bros., 2001
Himself, The Late Henry Moss, Keep Your Head, 2002
Himself, Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick (documentary), Campinella Productions/Citrullo International/Misami Film, 2002
Vic, Leo, Gold Circle Films, 2002
Sheriff Kolb, Blind Horizon, Nu Image, 2003
This So-Called Disaster, 2003
Film Director
Tongues, 1982
Far North, Alive, 1988
Silent Tongue (also known as Le gardien des esprits), Trimark Pictures, 1993
Television Appearances
Miniseries
Corporal Pea Eye Parker, Streets of Laredo (also known as LarryMcMurtry's Streets of Laredo), CBS, 1995
Himself, Changing Stages, PBS, 2000
Movies
Snort Yarnell, The Good Old Boys, TNT, 1995
Pete Davenport, Lily Dale, Showtime, 1996
Will Dodge, Curtain Call, Starz!, 1998
Dashiell Hammett, Dash and Lilly, Arts and Entertainment, 1999
Sheriff Forrest and Wild Bill Hickok, Purgatory, TNT, 1999
Major Nelson Gray, One Kill, Showtime, 2000
Caleb Gare, After the Harvest (also known as Wild Geese), CTV and Lifetime, 2001
Frank Gilmore, Sr., Shot in the Heart, HBO, 2001
Specials
"Sam Shepard: Stalking Himself," Great Performances, PBS, 1998
Himself, Spotlight on Location: Snow Falling on Cedars, 2000
Narrator, Kurosawa, PBS, 2001
Episodic
(With the Holy Modal Rounders) Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (also known as Laugh-In), NBC, 1968
Himself, Intimate Portrait: Jessica Lange, Lifetime, 1998
"Jessica Lange: It's Only Make-Believe," Crazy about the Movies, Cinemax, 1991
Stage Appearances
Cowboy Mouth, American Place Theatre, New York City, 1971
Stage Director
Geography of a Horse Dreamer, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, 1974
Fool for Love, Magic Theatre, San Francisco, CA, then Circle Repertory Theatre, New York City, later Douglas Fairbanks Theatre, New York City,all 1983

A Lie of the Mind, Promenade Theatre, New York City, 1985
Simpatico, Estelle R. Newman Theatre, Public Theatre, New York City, 1994
The Late Henry Moss, Magic Theatre, 2000, then Signature Theatre Company, New York City, 2001
WRITINGS
Stage Plays
Cowboys (one-act), Theatre Genesis, New York City, 1964
The Rock Garden (one-act), Theatre Genesis, 1964, first publishedin The Unseen Hand and Other Plays, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN),1971
Dog (one-act), La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, New York City, 1965
Rocking Chair, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 1965
Up to Thursday (one-act), Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, 1965
4-H Club (one-act), Cherry Lane Theatre, 1965, published in TheUnseen Hand and Other Plays, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971
Icarus's Mother (one-act), Caffe Cino, New York City, 1965, then Open Space Theatre, London, 1971, published in Five Plays by Sam Shepard, Bobbs-Merrill, 1967
Chicago (one-act), Theatre Genesis, 1965, then in London, 1976, revived by Signature Theatre Company, Susan Stein Shiva, Public Theatre, New York City, 1997, published in Five Plays by Sam Shepard, Bobbs-Merrill,1967
Fourteen Hundred Thousand (one-act), Firehouse Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, 1966, published in Five Plays by Sam Shepard, Bobbs-Merrill, 1967
Melodrama Play, in Six from La MaMa, Martinique Theatre, New York City, 1966, then La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, later Mercury Theatre, London, both 1967, published in Five Plays by Sam Shepard, Bobbs-Merrill, 1967
Red Cross (one-act), Judson Poet's Theatre, New York City, 1966, then Provincetown Playhouse, New York City, 1969, produced in Glasgow, Scotland, 1969, later at King's Head Theatre, London, 1972, published in Five Plays by Sam Shepard, Bobbs-Merrill, 1967
La Turista (two-act), American Place Theatre, New York City, 1967,then Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, 1969, first published by Bobbs-Merrill, 1968
Forensic and the Navigators (one-act), Theatre Genesis, 1967, thenAstor Place Theatre, New York City, 1970, published in The Unseen Hand and Other Plays, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971
Cowboys No. 2 (one-act), Old Reliable Theatre, New York City, thenMark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, both 1967, later London, 1980, published in Mad Dog Blues and Other Plays, Winter House, 1972
The Holy Ghostly (one-act), La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 1969, then King's Head Theatre, 1973, published in The Unseen Hand and OtherPlays, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971
The Unseen Hand (one-act), La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 1969, then Astor Place Theatre, 1970, later Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1973, published in The Unseen Hand and Other Plays, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971, published with Action, Faber (London), 1975
(With others) Oh! Calcutta!, Eden Theatre, New York City, 1969-1975 then Edison Theatre, New York City, 1976-1989
Operation Sidewinder (two-act), Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York City, 1970, first published by Bobbs-Merrill, 1970
Shaved Splits, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 1970, publishedin The Unseen Hand and Other Plays, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971
(With others) Terminal, Open Theatre, New York City, 1971
Black Bog Beast Bait (one-act), American Place Theatre, 1971, published in The Unseen Hand and Other Plays, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971
Mad Dog Blues (one-act), Theatre Genesis, 1971, then in Edinburgh,Scotland, 1978, published in Mad Dog Blues and Other Plays, Winter House, 1972
(With Patti Smith) Cowboy Mouth, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, thenAmerican Place Theatre, both 1971, later in London, 1972, published in Mad Dog Blues and Other Plays, Winter House, 1972
The Tooth of Crime (two-act), Open Space Theatre, 1972, then Performing Garage Theatre, New York City, 1973, later Royal Court Theatre, 1974, revised version produced as Tooth of Crime (Second Dance), music and lyrics by T-Bone Burnett, Signature Theatre Company, Lucille Lortel Theatre, New York City, 1997, first published in The Tooth of Crime [and] Geography of a Horse Dreamer, Grove (New York City), 1974
(With Megan Terry and Jean-Claude van Itallie) Nightwalk, Open Theatre, then in London, both 1973, first published in Mad Dog Blues and Other Plays, Winter House, 1972
Blue Bitch, Theatre Genesis, 1973, then London, 1975
Little Ocean, Hampstead Theatre Club, London, 1974
Geography of a Horse Dreamer (two-act), Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1974, then in New Haven, CT, 1974, and New York City, 1975, first published in The Tooth of Crime [and] Geography of a Horse Dreamer, Grove, 1974
Action (one-act), American Place Theatre, 1974, then Magic Theatreand Royal Court Theatre, both 1975, revived by Signature Theatre Company atSusan Stein Shiva, Public Theatre, 1997, published in Angel City and OtherPlays, Urizen Books (New York City), 1976
Killer's Head (one-act monologue), American Place Theatre, 1974, then Magic Theatre and Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, both 1975, revived by Signature Theatre Company, Susan Stein Shiva, Public Theatre, 1997, published inAngel City and Other Plays, Urizen Books, 1976
Suicide in B-Flat, in New Haven, CT, 1976, then at Impossible Ragtime Theatre, New York City, 1979, later Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver, CO, 1982, published in Buried Child and Other Plays, Urizen Books, 1979
Angel City, Magic Theatre, 1976, then in London, 1983, later at American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 1984, published in Angel City andOther Plays, Urizen Books, 1976
The Sad Lament of Pecos Bill on the Eve of Killing His Wife (one-act), San Francisco, 1976, then at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 1983, revived by Signature Theatre Company, Susan Stein Shiva, Public Theatre, 1997,published with Fool for Love, City Lights (San Francisco, CA), 1983
Inacoma, San Francisco, 1977
Curse of the Starving Class (two-act), New York Shakespeare Festival, Estelle R. Newman Theatre, Public Theatre, 1978, then in London, later revived by Signature Theatre Company, Susan Stein Shiva, Public Theatre, 1997,published by Dramatists Play Service (New York City), 1991
(With Joseph Chaikin) Buried Child (two-act), Theatre De Lys (nowLucille Lortel Theatre), New York City, then San Francisco, both 1978, revised version, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, 1995-1996, then Circle Repertory Company, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1996, published in Buried Child and Other Plays, Urizen Books, 1979
Seduced, Providence, RI, 1978, then at American Place Theatre, 1979, published in Buried Child and Other Plays, Urizen Books, 1979
(With Chaikin; and composer with Skip LaPlante and Harry Mann) Tongues, New York Shakespeare Festival, Other Stage, Public Theatre, New York City, then Eureka Theatre Festival, Eureka, CA, both 1979, later Mark Taper Forum, 1981, published in Seven Plays by Sam Shepard, Bantam (New York City), 1981
(With Chaikin; and composer with LaPlante and Mann) Savage/Love, New York Shakespeare Festival, Other Stage, Public Theatre, then Eureka Theatre Festival, both 1979, later Mark Taper Forum, 1981, published in Seven Plays by Sam Shepard, Bantam, 1981
(With Jacques Levy) Jackson's Dance, New Haven, 1980
True West (two-act), San Francisco, 1980, then New York Shakespeare Festival, Martinson Hall, Public Theatre, 1981, later Cherry Lane Theatre,1982, revived at Circle in the Square, New York City, 2000, published in Seven Plays by Sam Shepard, Bantam, 1981
Fool for Love, Magic Theatre, 1983, then Circle Repertory Theatre,later Douglas Fairbanks Theatre, both New York City, 1983, published with The Sad Lament of Pecos Bill on the Eve of Killing His Wife, City Lights, 1983
(And composer with Catherine Stone) Superstitions (one-act), La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 1983
A Lie of the Mind, Promenade Theatre, New York City, 1985, then London, 1987, later Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London, 2001, published with The War in Heaven, New American Library (New York City), 1987
Hawk Moon, London, 1989
States of Shock, American Place Theatre, 1991, published by Vintage (New York City), 1993
(With Chaikin) The War in Heaven, American Place Theatre, 1991, then Signature Theatre Company, Public Theatre, 1997, published with A Lie of the Mind, New American Library, 1987
Simpatico, Estelle R. Newman Theatre, Public Theatre, New York City, 1994
(With Chaikin) When the World Was Green (A Chef's Fable), OlympicArts Festival, Atlanta, GA, later Signature Theatre Company, Public Theatre,1997
Eyes for Consuela (based on "The Blue Bouquet," a short story by Octavio Paz), Manhattan Theatre Club Stage II, New York City, 1998
The Late Henry Moss, Magic Theatre, 2000, then Signature Theatre Company, New York City, 2001, staged reading at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, 2003
Also wrote the play True Dylan.
Screenplays
(With Robert Frank) Me and My Brother, New Yorker, 1967
(With others) Zabriski Point, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1970, publishedwith Anton's Red Desert, Simon & Schuster (New York City), 1970
(With Murray Mednick) Ringaleevio, 1971
(With others) Oh! Calcutta! (based on the musical by Shepard and others), Cinemation, 1972
(With Bob Dylan) Renaldo and Clara, Circuit, 1977
Savage/Love (based on his stage play), 1981
Tongues (based on his stage play), 1982
(With L. M. Kit Carson) Paris, Texas (based on Shepard's stage play Motel Chronicles), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1984
Fool for Love (based on his stage play), Cannon, 1985
Far North, Alive, 1988
Silent Tongue (also known as Le gardien des esprits), Trimark Pictures, 1993
Teleplays
Specials
Fourteen Hundred Thousand (play), National Educational Television(now PBS), 1969
Blue Bitch (play), BBC, 1973, published in Mad Dog Blues and Other Plays, Winter House, 1972
True West (also known as Sam Shepard's "True West"; based on his stage play), PBS, 1984
Radio Plays
(With Joseph Chaikin) The War in Heaven, broadcast in 1985, produced on stage in London, 1987, produced with Struck Dumb (double-bill),American Place Theatre, New York City, 1991, published with A Lie of the Mind, New American Library (New York City), 1987
Anthologies
Five Plays by Sam Shepard (includes Chicago, Fourteen Hundred Thousand, Icarus's Mother, Melodrama Play, and RedCross), Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN), 1967, published as Chicagoand Other Plays, Urizen Books (New York City), 1981
The Unseen Hand and Other Plays (includes Black Bog Beast Bait, Forensic and the Navigators, 4-H Club, Holy Ghostly, The Rock Garden, Shaved Splits, and The Unseen Hand),Bobbs-Merrill, 1971
Mad Dog Blues and Other Plays (includes Blue Bitch, Cowboy Mouth, Cowboys No. 2, Mad Dog Blues, Nightwalk, and The Rock Garden), Winter House, 1972
The Tooth of Crime [and] Geography of a Horse Dreamer, Grove (New York City), 1974
Angel City and Other Plays (includes Action, Angel City, Cowboy Mouth, Cowboys No. 2, Curse of the Starving Class, Killer's Head, Mad Dog Blues, and The Rock Garden), Urizen Books, 1976
Buried Child and Other Plays, Urizen Books, 1979, published in England as Buried Child, Seduced, [and] Suicide in B-Flat,Faber, 1980
Four Two-Act Plays by Sam Shepard (includes Geography of a Horse Dreamer, La Turista, Operation Sidewinder, and The Tooth of Crime), Urizen Books, 1980
Seven Plays by Sam Shepard (includes Buried Child, Curseof the Starving Class, La Turista, Savage/Love, Tongues, The Tooth of Crime, and True West), Bantam (New York City), 1981
The Unseen Hand and Other Plays, Urizen Books, 1981
Fool for Love [and] The Sad Lament of Pecos Bill on the Eve ofKilling His Wife, City Lights (San Francisco, CA), 1983
Fool for Love and Other Plays (includes Angel City, Cowboy Mouth, Geography of a Horse Dreamer, Melodrama Play, Seduced, and Suicide in B-Flat), Bantam, 1984
The Unseen Hand and Other Plays, Bantam, 1986
(With Joseph Chaikin) The War in Heaven [and] A Lie of the Mind, New American Library (New York City), 1987
Fiction
Hawk Moon: A Book of Short Stories, Poems, and Monologues, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1973
Motel Chronicles (includes Hawk Moon), City Lights (San Francisco, CA), 1982, published as Motel Chronicles and Hawk Moon, Faber(London), 1985
Cruising Paradise (stories), Knopf (New York City), 1996
Nonficiton
Rolling Thunder Logbook, Viking (New York City), 1977
Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard: Letters and Texts, 1972-1984, edited by Barry V. Daniels, New American Library (New York City), 1989

Further Reference

ADAPTATIONS

The television movie Curse of the Starving Class was adapted by Bruce Beresford from Shepard's play of the same title and broadcast by Showtimein 1995. The screenplay Simpatico, released by Fine Line and PhaedraCinema in 1999, was based on his stage play. The television movie See Youin My Dreams, broadcast by CBS in 2000, was based on his short stories "Cruising Paradise" and "Motel Chronicles."

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Auerbach, Doris, Sam Shepard, Arthur Kopit, and the Off-Broadway Theatre, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1982
Benet, Carol, Sam Shepard on the German Stage: Critics, Politics, Myths, Peter Lang (New York City), 1993
Contemporary Dramatists, 6th edition, St. James Press, 1999
Daniels, Barry V., editor, Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard: Letters andTexts, 1972-1984, New American Library (New York City), 1989
De Rose, David J., Sam Shepard, Twayne, 1992
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 7: Twentieth-Century American Dramatists, Gale, 1981
Graham, Laura J., Sam Shepard: Theme, Image, and the Director, Peter Lang, 1993
Hall, Ann C., "A Kind of Alaska": Women in the Plays of O'Neill, Pinter, and Shepard, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 1993
Hart, Lynda, Sam Shepard's Metaphorical Stages, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1987
King, Kimball, Ten Modern American Playwrights, Garland Publishing(New York City), 1982
King, Sam Shepard: A Casebook, Garland Publishing, 1988
Marranca, Bonnie, editor, American Dreams: The Imagination of Sam Shepard, Performing Arts Journal Publications (New York City), 1981
McGhee, Jim, True Lies: The Architecture of the Fantastic in the Playsof Sam Shepard, Peter Lang, 1993
Mottram, Ron, Inner Landscapes: The Theatre of Sam Shepard, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 1984
Orr, John, Tragicomedy and Contemporary Culture: Play and Performancefrom Beckett to Shepard, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1991
Oumano, Ellen, Sam Shepard: The Life and Work of an American Dreamer, St. Martin's Press (New York City), 1986
Patraka, Vivian M., and Mark Siegel, Sam Shepard, Boise State University (Boise, ID), 1985
Perry, Frederick J., A Reconstruction-Analysis of Buried Child by Playwright Sam Shepard, Mellen Research University Press (San Francisco, CA),1992
Shewey, Don, Sam Shepard, Dell (New York City), 1985
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press, 2000
Trussler, Simon, File on Shepard, Methuen (London), 1989
Tucker, Martin, Sam Shepard, Continuum (New York City), 1992
Weales, Gerald, The Jumping-Off Place: American Drama in the 1960s, Macmillan (New York City), 1969
Wilcox, Leonard, editor, Rereading Shepard: Contemporary Critical Essays on the Plays of Sam Shepard, St. Martin's Press, 1993

Periodicals

American Theatre, September, 1996, p. 28; July-August, 1997, p. 12
Back Stage, May 16, 1997, p. 64
Maclean's, October 2, 2000, p. 74
New Republic, July 15, 1996, p. 27
New York Times, November 13, 1994, sec. 2, pp. 1, 2
Parade, January 10, 1999, p. 23

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