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D.O.B
Sam Shepard was born on November 5, 1943 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois. -
Where he got his name?
Samuel Shepard Rogers III was named after his father Samuel Shepard Rogers Jr. -
Parents
His father (Samuel Shepard Jr) was a teacher and a farmer who served in the U.S. Air Force as a bomber during WWII. His Mother (Jane Elaine) was also a teacher and a native from Chicago. -
Growing up
Samuel Shepard grew up in southern California where he worked on a ranch. After graduating high school in Duarte, California he went to study animal husbandry at Mt. San Antonio College. Shepard later dropped out of college and joined the Bishops Company. -
Roommates
When Shepard first moved to New York City he lived with Charlie Mingus Jr a friend from high school and son of jazz musician Charles Mingus. He later then moved with actress Joyce Aaron. -
Career
Shepard later moved to New York City and found work as a busboy at the Village Gate nightclub, later that year the head waiter Ralph Cook founded the experimental stage Theater Genesis house at St. Marks church in Manhattan. Two of his earliest one-act plays, The Rock Garden and Cowboys was debuted in that theater in 1964. -
People he worked with
Samuel Shepard worked with many people during 1960-1980 like Tom O'Horgan (Director), Leonard Melfi's (Actor), Rochelle Owens (Actor), Jeff Bleckner (Director), Bill Hart (Director), Seth Allen (Director), Tony Barsha (Director), John Densmore (Actor), Joseph Chaikin (Actor) and Nicholas Swyrydenko (Director). -
Shepard Plays
Shepard's one-act plays Dog and The Rocking Chair were produced at La MaMa Experimental Club. Shepard had made many productions with La MaMa during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Some of the productions were Futz, Time Square, Unseen Hand and Forensic and the Navigators. -
Obie Awards
Samuel Shepard won six Obie Awards between 1966-1968, he emerged as a screenwriter -
Family #1
Shepard was married to actress O-Lan Jones, they also had a son named Jesse Mojo Shepard. -
Shepard's Sides
Christine O'Dell. Mitchell says in her song: "He's got a woman at home, another woman down the hall, but he seems to want me anyway". -
Shepard's Sides
Shepard had an affair with musician Patti Smith who didn't know anything about his identity until Jackie Curtis told her. Patti Smith said "Me and his wife still even liked each other. I mean, it wasn't like committing adultery in the suburbs or something". Later on he had another affair with Canadian Singer-Songwriter Joni Mitchell who had wrote two song about her affairs with Shepard. Mitchell recounts Shepard's seduction with her at the time while being married and affaring with the manager -
Major Turning Point
Shepard was named The PlayWrite-in-Residence at the Magic Theater in San Francisco. One of his plays Buried Child won the Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for five Tony Awards this made a major turning point in his career. Later on, his plays True West and Fool for Love were nominated for another Pulitzer Prize. Shepard had won a record setting ten Obie awards for writing between 1966-1984. -
Back to United States
While returning back to United States, he move to the 20 acre Flying Y ranch in Mill Valley, California. He continued to write plays and served for a semester as Regents Professor of Drama at the University of California Davis. -
Acting
Shepard started his acting career when he cast a major role in Days of Heaven. This also led him in others roles in Resurrection and The Right Stuff. He also won the Best Supporting Actor award. -
Director
In the beginning of Shepard's career he really didn't direct his own plays because he had other directors doing it for him. One of the many directors was Ralph Cook who was the founder of the Theatre Genesis. -
Family #2
Shepard later meets actress Jessica Lange on set in the film Frances. He then moves in with her and had been staying together for 27 years. They had two children Hannah Jane Shepard and Samuel Walker Shepard. They later breakup in 2009 and starts dating actress Mia Kirshner. -
Death
Shepard then dies on July 27, 2017 at his home in Midway Kentucky due to complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. -
Shepard's Archives
Shepard's Archive where split into two places Wittliff Collections of Southwestern Writers at Texas State University comprising 27 boxes and Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin comprising 30 document boxes. -
Total Collections
In total Shepard had 60 collections 48 plays, 2 novels and 10 collections