Sam Shepard, the acclaimed playwright who was also talented as an actor, screenwriter, and director, has died at age 73.
He died on Thursday at his home in Kentucky following complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
He wrote or co-wrote screenplays for Wim Wenders’ “Paris, Texas,” Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point,” and Robert Altman’s “Fool for Love,” based on his play.
More recently, his stage work has included “The Late Henry Moss” (seen Off Broadway in 2001), “Heartless” (2012) and “A Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations)” (2014).
As an actor, his breakout film role was in Terrence Malick’s 1978 film “Days of Heaven,” in which he starred opposite Richard Gere and Brooke Adams.
Along with his Oscar-nominated turn in “Right Stuff,” he also appeared in movies including “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Steel Magnolias, “Black Hawk Down” and “August: Osage County.” He also recently acted in the first two seasons of Netflix series “Bloodline.”
He was Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated for his role as Dashiell Hammett in TV movie “Dash and Lilly.”
Shepard’s novel, “The One Inside,” was published in February.
Born Samuel Shepard Rogers III, in Fort Sheridan, Ill., he worked on a ranch as a teen and discovered Samuel Beckett — as well as jazz and abstract expressionism — at Mt. San Antonio College before he dropped out to join a touring theater repertory troupe.
He had a nearly 30 year relationship with Jessica Lange, whom he met when he collaborated with her on 1982 movie “Frances.” They separated in 2009.
Shepard is survived by his children, Jesse, Hannah, and Walker Shepard, and his sisters, Sandy and Roxanne Rogers.