Vale: Sam Shepard
Gifted US writer & actor best known for writing True West, Paris Texas and performing in The Right Stuff, has died.
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Gifted US writer and actor Sam Shephard, best known for writing True West, Paris Texas and performing in The Right Stuff, has died aged 73.
He died last week from complications related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Shepard, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his play “Buried Child,” but wrote more than 40 plays including “True West,” “Curse of the Starving Class” and “Fool for Love.” He also wrote the script for Paris, Texas, the 1984 film directed by Wim Wenders that won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984, and Robert Altman’s screen version of Fool for Love.
His film credits included The Right Stuff, Days of Heaven, August: Osage County, The Notebook, Black Hawk Down and Steel Magnolias.
Most recently, he played patriarch Robert Rayburn in Netflix’s thriller Bloodline, his final on-screen role. Other TV credits included Klondike, Streets of Laredo, After the Harvest and Shot in the Heart.
Shepard was married to actress O-Lan Jones from 1969 to 1984 and had a relationship of nearly 30 years with Jessica Lange, which ended in 2009.
Source: NY Daily News
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- Tagged with After the Harvest, Bloodline, Klondike, Shot in the Heart, Streets of Laredo
One Response
I enjoyed Sam Shephard’s laconic acting performances especially in The Right Stuff a movie which is on my all time favourites list. His appearance in Netflix’s Bloodline made me think he was ill but even so his character actor personality still shone through, he is the complete Texan of a past age and will be missed though his acting roles and plays will live on forever.