Editing Sam Shepard (section)

===Acting===
Shepard began his film acting career when cast in a major role as the land baron in [[Terrence Malick]]'s ''[[Days of Heaven]]'' (1978), opposite [[Richard Gere]] and [[Brooke Adams (actress)|Brooke Adams]].<ref name="bbc.com"/> This led to other film roles, including that of Cal, [[Ellen Burstyn]]'s character's love interest in ''[[Resurrection (1980 film)|Resurrection]]'' (1980), and, most notably, Shepard's portrayal of [[Chuck Yeager]] in ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]'' (1983). The latter performance earned Shepard an Academy Award nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]. By 1986, ''[[Fool for Love (1985 film)|Fool for Love]]'' was adapted by [[Robert Altman]] with Shepard in the lead role; ''A Lie of the Mind'' was being performed [[Off Broadway]] (with [[Harvey Keitel]] and [[Geraldine Page]]); and Shepard was working steadily as a film actor. Together, these achievements put him on the cover of ''Newsweek''.

Over the years, Shepard taught extensively on playwriting and other aspects of theater. He gave classes and seminars at various theater workshops, festivals, and universities. Shepard was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] in 1986, and was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1986.<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web |url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf |title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter S |website=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=April 22, 2011 |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> In 2000, Shepard demonstrated his gratitude to the Magic Theatre by staging ''[[The Late Henry Moss]]'' as a benefit for the theater, in San Francisco. The cast included [[Nick Nolte]], [[Sean Penn]], [[Woody Harrelson]], and [[Cheech Marin]]. The limited, three-month run was sold out. In 2001, Shepard played General [[William F. Garrison]] in the film ''[[Black Hawk Down (film)|Black Hawk Down]]''. Although he was cast in a supporting role, Shepard enjoyed renewed interest in his talent for screen acting.

Shepard performed [[Spalding Gray]]'s final monologue ''Life Interrupted'' for the audiobook version, released in 2006. In 2007, Shepard contributed banjo to Patti Smith's cover of [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s song "[[Smells Like Teen Spirit]]" on her album ''[[Twelve (Patti Smith album)|Twelve]]''. Although many artists had an influence on Shepard's work, one of the more significant was [[Joseph Chaikin]], a veteran of [[The Living Theatre]] and founder of [[The Open Theater]].<ref name="Botting" /> The two worked together on various projects, and Shepard has stated that Chaikin was a valuable mentor.

In 2011, Shepard starred in the film ''[[Blackthorn (film)|Blackthorn]]''. His final film appearance is ''[[Never Here]]'', which premiered in June 2017 but had been filmed in 2014.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.backstage.com/casting/you-were-never-here-50117/ |title=Feature Films: 'You Were Never Here' |date=November 2014 |magazine=[[Backstage (magazine)|Backstage]] |access-date=June 13, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802081105/https://www.backstage.com/casting/you-were-never-here-50117/ |archive-date=August 2, 2017 }}</ref> Shepard also appeared in the television series ''[[Bloodline (TV series)|Bloodline]]'' from 2014 to 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sam-shepard.com/bloodline.html |title=Bloodline |website=The Sam Shepard Web Site |access-date=June 13, 2019}}</ref>