Sam Shepard Biography

Fast Facts

• Fell in love with horses and farming while growing up in California, where one of his first jobs was working with horses at the Santa Anita Racetrack
• Authored more than 40 plays, including Buried Child, winner of the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Tony-nominated True West
• Played drums in the late-'60s folk band the Holy Modal Rounders, who were featured on the soundtrack of Easy Rider
• Had a relationship with musician Patti Smith in the early 1970s; reunited with her for a poetry reading four decades later in New York
• Collaborated with Bob Dylan on several works, including the 11-minute song "Brownsville Girl" on Dylan's album Knocked Out Loaded
• Ironically suffered from a fear of flying (which he later overcame) at the time of his Oscar-nominated performance as pilot Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983)
• Spent time writing and sharing ideas at the Santa Fe Institute, where a meeting with former CIA operative Valerie Plame helped him prepare for roles in Fair Game (2010) and Safe House (2012)