Playwright, Director and Actor Sam Shepard Passes Away at 73

[sonnymax]

Sam Shepard, whose hallucinatory plays redefined the landscape of the American West and its inhabitants, died on Thursday at his home in Kentucky. He was 73. 

Mr. Shepard wrote more than 55 plays (his last, “A Particle of Dread,” premiered in 2014), acted in more than 50 films and had more than a dozen roles on television. He was also the author of several prose works, including “Cruising Paradise” (1996), and the memoir “Motel Chronicles” (1982). Though he received critical acclaim almost from the beginning of his career, and his work has been staged throughout the world, he was never a mainstream commercial playwright.

Most recently he portrayed the patriarch of a troubled Florida family in the Netflix series “Bloodline.” But the role that may have matched actor and subject most neatly was Chuck Yeager, the laconic test pilot in “The Right Stuff,” Philip Kaufman’s adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s book about the early days of the space program. It earned Mr. Shepard an Oscar nomination.

NYT obituary

[Chuck Nessa]

I've been bummed all day after reading the news in the Times.

A more important artist than most know.

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

I've been bummed all day after reading the news in the Times.

A more important artist than most know.

I agree. He spent a lot of time here in Santa Fe. I think we had a margarita or two, if not together , in the same place.

[GA Russell]

RIP.  I never understood the extent of his success, but I was reminded of him every year in the paper because I was born on his birthday.

[Bluesnik]

I heard that yesterday night at the news. The same day that Jeanne Moreau passed! Listening to Annie I'm not your daddy by Kid Creole and the Coconuts now.

[BFrank]

I used to see him around SF in the 70s-80s and saw the premier of "Fool For Love" at the Magic Theatre w/Ed Harris and Kathy Baker in '83. I liked his work a lot - both as a playwright and actor. 

[Hardbopjazz]

RIP.