Sam Shepard "True West"
"I didn't go out of my way to get into this movie stuff. I think of myself as a writer."
Shepard about appearing in different movies
"I like to yodel and dance and fuck a lot. Writing is neat because you do it on a very physical level. Just like rock and roll. A lot of people think playwrights are some special brand of intellectual fruitcake with special awareness to special problems that confront the world at large. I think that's a crock of shit."
1971 program note to "Cowboy Mouth"
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Biography Notes |
Plays |
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1943 |
November 5th; born as Samuel Shepard Rogers VII |
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1950 |
attends Lincoln Elementary School in Pasadena |
writes his first story "The Finding of Fang" |
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1955 |
moves to Duarte and attends high school |
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1961 |
enrolls in Mount San Antonio Junior College |
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1962 |
on Tour with Bishop's Company Repetory Players |
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1963 |
moves to New York’s East Village |
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1964 |
Premier of "Cowboys" and "The Rock Garden" at Theatre Genesis in New York |
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1965 |
"Dog" and "Rocking Chair" at La MaMa; "Up to Thursday" and "4-H Club" staged by Albee's Playwright Unit; "Chicago"again at Theatre Genesis and "Icarus's Mother" at Caffe Cino |
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1966 |
wins 3 Obies |
"Red Cross" at Judson Poet's Theatre; "Fourteen hundred Thousand" at Firehouse Theatre in Minneapolis |
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1967 |
receives grants from University of Minnesota, Yale, and Rockefeller Foundation |
"La Turista" at the American Place Theatre; "Melodrama Play" at La MaMa; "Cowboys#2" at Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; "Forensic & the Navigators" at Theatre Genesis |
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1968 |
receives Guggenheim Fellowship; he performs with rock band "Holy Modal Rounders" |
cowrites screenplay for "Me and My Brother"; contributes to script for "Zabriskie Point" |
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1969 |
weds O-lan Johnson |
La MaMa tours "The Holy Ghostly"; "The Unseen Hand" at La MaMa; "La Turista" at London's Royal Court Theatre |
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1970 |
appears in "Brand X" |
"Zabriskie Point" released; "Operation Sidewinder" at Lincoln Center; "Shaved Splits" at La MaMa |
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1971 |
moves to London |
"Mad Dog Blues" at Theatre Genesis; "Cowboys Mouth" and "Back Bog Beast Bait" at the American Place Theatre |
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1972 |
"The Tooth of Crime" at Open Space Theatre |
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1973 |
publishes a book of poetry "Hawk Moon"; receives an Obie for "The Tooth of Crime" |
"Blue Bitch" on BBC; "Nightwalk" for Open Theatre |
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1974 |
returns to California |
"Geography of a Horse Dreamer" at Royal Court; "Little Ocean" at Hampstead Theatre Club; "The Tooth of Crime" and "Action" at Royal Court |
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1975 |
tours with "Rolling Thunder Review" |
"Action" and "Killer's Head" at American Place Theatre; "Action" at Magic Theatre in San Francisco |
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1976 |
joins Magic Theatre Company; receives Creative Arts Medal from Brandeis University; receives Rockefeller Grant |
"Angel City" at Magic Theatre; "Suicide in B-Flat" at Yale Repetory |
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1977 |
publishes "Rolling Thunder Logbook" |
"Inacoma" at Magic Theatre; "Curse of the Starving Class" at Royal Court |
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1978 |
appears in "Days of Heaven" |
"Curse of the Starving Class" at Public Theatre; "Seduced" at Trinitiy Square Repetory; "Buried Child" and "Tongues" at Magic Theatre |
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1979 |
wins Pulitzer Price for "Buried Child"; writes libretto for "Jacaranda" |
"Savage/Love" at Magic Theatre |
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1980 |
appears in "Resurrection" |
"True West" at Magic Theatre |
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1981 |
appears in "Raggedy Man"; meets Jessica Lange |
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1982 |
publishes "Motel Chronicles"; appears in "Frances" |
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1983 |
appears in "The Right Stuff"; receives Academy Award Nomination; father dies; divorce |
"Fool for Love" at Magic Theatre |
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1984 |
writes screenplay for "Paris, Texas"; wins Golden Palm Award in Cannes; appears "Country" |
PBS broadcasts "True West" |
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1985 |
appears in "Fool for Love" |
"The War in Heaven" airs on radio; "A Lie of the Mind" opens Off-Broadway |
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1986 |
appears in "Crimes of the Heart"; has daughter Hannah with Lange |
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1987 |
publishes "True Dylan" in Esquire; appears in "Baby Boom"; has son Samuel with Lange |
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1988 |
releases "Far North" |
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1989 |
appears in "Steel Magnolias" |
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1991 |
appears in "The Voyager", "Defenseless", "Bright Angel" and "Homo Faber" |
"States of Shock" at American Place Theatre |
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1992 |
appears in "Thunderheart" |
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1993 |
appears in "The Pelican Brief" |
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1994 |
appears in "Safe Passage"; releases "Silent Tongue"; is inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame |
"Simpatico" at Public Theatre |
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1995 |
"Buried Child" at the Steppenwolf |
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1996 |
publishes "Cruising Paradise"; season of Shepard plays at the Signature Theatre |
"Buried Child" on Broadway |
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1998 |
appears in "The Only Thrill" |
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1999 |
appears in "Texas", "Hamlet", "Purgatory", "Curtain Call", "Dash and Lilly" and "Snow Falling on Cedars" |
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2000 |
appears in "The Pledge" and "All The Pretty Horses" |
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2001 |
up to come : "Just to Be Together" |
Literature: