Editing Sam Shepard (section)

{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}
{{Short description|American playwright and actor (1943–2017)}}
{{Other people5|Sam Shepard (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Sam Shepard
| image              = Sam Shepard Stealth cropped.JPG
| caption            = Shepard in 2004
| birth_name         = Samuel Shepard Rogers III
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1943|11|5}}
| birth_place        = [[Fort Sheridan, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2017|7|27|1943|11|5}}
| death_place        = [[Midway, Kentucky]], U.S.
| awards             = ''See [[List of awards and nominations received by Sam Shepard|full list]]''
| works              = [[Sam Shepard filmography|Filmography]]
| education          = [[Mt. San Antonio College]]
| occupation         = {{Flatlist|
* Playwright
* actor
* director
* screenwriter
* author}}
| years_active       = 1963–2017
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[O-Lan Jones]]|1969|1984|end=div}}
| partner            = [[Jessica Lange]] (1982–2009)
| children           = 3
| signature          = Sam SHEPARD signature.png
}}
'''Samuel Shepard Rogers III''' (November 5, 1943&nbsp;– July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sam Shepard |last=Shewey |first=Don |publisher=Perseus Books Group |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-30680-770-1 |page=13 |quote=He was born Samuel Shepard Rogers III and called Steve, although if he were royalty his name would have been Samuel Shepard Rogers VII.}}</ref> He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. He won 10 [[Obie Award]]s 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]]'' and was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his portrayal of pilot [[Chuck Yeager]] in the 1983 film ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]''. He received the [[PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award]] as a master American dramatist in 2009. ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine described Shepard as "the greatest American playwright of his generation."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VuUCAAAAMBAJ&q=%22why+is+sam+shepard+virtually%22&pg=PA20 |title=The Genius of Sam Shepard |work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |first=Ross |last=Wetzsteon |date=November 11, 1984 |access-date=December 9, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503210715/https://books.google.com/books?id=VuUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=virtually%22&source=bl&ots=zPveS1eQD0&sig=7lUn5gKk1HufDLeDiyK9ZZbUI_U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwieqc68x9DJAhVK4WMKHZfRBmsQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22why%20is%20sam%20shepard%20virtually%22&f=false |archive-date=May 3, 2016 }}</ref>

Shepard's plays are known for their bleak, poetic, surrealist elements, [[black comedy]], and rootless characters living on the outskirts of American society.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ina.fr/video/I17212445/wim-wenders-a-propos-de-sam-shepard-video.html |title=Wim Wenders à propos de Sam Shepard (Video) |trans-title=Wim Wenders on Sam Shepard |date=May 2, 1984 |website=[[Institut national de l'audiovisuel]] |language=fr |access-date=June 13, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819053823/http://www.ina.fr/video/I17212445/wim-wenders-a-propos-de-sam-shepard-video.html |archive-date=August 19, 2017}}</ref> His style evolved from the absurdism of his early [[Off-Off-Broadway|off-off-Broadway]] work to the realism of later plays like ''Buried Child'' and ''[[Curse of the Starving Class]]''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T59milCjWBQC |title=Harold Bloom's Major Dramatists: Sam Shepard |last=Bloom |first=Harold |date=2009 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-43811-646-4 |access-date=December 12, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730204911/http://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/research/a-z/shepard.html |archive-date=July 30, 2017 }}</ref>