
Shepard's first few short plays were savagely reviewed in major papers, but he won good notices in the alternative paper The Village Voice. He won three consecutive OBIEs for writing in the mid-1960s, and contributed a few comic sketches for the limply plotted "erotic musical" Oh! Calcutta!.
He made his debut as a screen actor in 1970's little-seen “Brand X” with Sally Kirkland and Abbie Hoffman. His best film performances include the fading mysterious farmer infatuated with Brooke Adams in Terrence Malick's masterpiece “Days of Heaven” (1978), the lover of miracle-worker Ellen Burstyn in “Resurrection” (1980), the reporter who falls for the unjustly declared insane Frances Farmer in Frances, the testosterone-drenched astronaut Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983), the distant commander of a military mission gone wrong in “Black Hawk Down” (2001) with Ewan McGregor, and Ryan Gosling's devoted father in “The Notebook” (2004). He’s also appeared in three Euro-westerns: “Bandidas”, “Don’t Come Knocking” (both 2004) and “Blackthorn” (2010).
Today we celebrate Sam Shepard’s 70th birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment