Sam Shepard, Pulitzer-Winning Playwright of Buried Child & Oscar-Nominated Actor, Dies at 73

Sam Shepard, known for his plays True West, Fool for Love and the Pulitzer-winning Buried Child, as well as his 1984 Oscar-nominated performance in The Right Stuff, died on July 27 at the age of 73, due to complications from the disease ALS.

Born on November 5, 1943 as Samuel Shepard Rogers III, in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, the scribe known professionally as Sam Shepard briefly attended Mt. San Antonio College studying agriculture. More interested in jazz, abstract expressionism and Samuel Beckett, Shepard left school to join the Bishop's Company, a touring repertory group.

Shepard landed in New York City and began penning works that were produced off-off-Broadway. His plays Cowboys and Rock Garden were produced by Theatre Genesis in 1963 and for several seasons he worked with off-off-Broadway's La MaMa and Caffe Cino. Shepard earned six Obie Awards between the years 1966 and 1968. 

Shepard's acclaimed plays include Buried Child (1978) and True West (1980), both of which earned Tony Award nominations for Best Play upon their Broadway debuts. His notable canon of works also comprise Fool for Love (1983), which played Broadway for the first time in 2015, as well as A Lie of the Mind (1985), States of Shock (1991), Simpatico (1993), The Late Henry Moss (2000) and Heartless (2012).

Shepard also had an extensive Hollywood career as a writer and actor, adapting and starring in a 1985 film version of Fool for Love. He earned a 1984 Oscar nomination for The Right Stuff, as well as a 1999 Emmy nomination and 2000 Golden Globe nomination for Dash and Lilly. As a screenwriter, Shepard was BAFTA-nominated for his screenplay of 1984's Paris, Texas. In February 2007, Knopf published Shepard's first work of long fiction, The One Inside.

In 1969, Shepard married actress O-Lan Jones; they had one son, Jesse Mojo Shepard, in 1970. Shepard and Jones later divorced. Shepard began a nearly 30-year relationship with the actress Jessica Lange in 1983. They had two children together, Hannah Jane in 1985 and Samuel Walker Shepard in 1987. Shepard and Lange separated in 2009.

Shepard is survived by his three children, and his sisters, Sandy and Roxanne.