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16:06, 01-Aug-2017
US actor, playwright Sam Shepard dead at 73
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Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated actor celebrated for depicting the darkness behind contemporary American life, has died, a family spokesman said Monday. He was 73.
The actor, director and writer passed away at home in Kentucky surrounded by his family on Thursday of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, the spokesman confirmed.
Shepard, who wrote nearly 50 plays, won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1979 for his play "Buried Child" and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1984 for best actor in a supporting role for "The Right Stuff."
He went on to star in dozens of films with acting credits on the likes of "Steel Magnolias" with Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts, 2001 war drama "Black Hawk Down," and 2013 family saga "August: Osage County" with Meryl Streep.
File of Sam Shepard talks about Discovery Channel's "Klondike" during the Winter 2014
TCA presentations in Pasadena, California, January 9, 2014. /Reuterus
File of Sam Shepard talks about Discovery Channel's "Klondike" during the Winter 2014 TCA presentations in Pasadena, California, January 9, 2014. /Reuterus
His Hollywood writing career included "Zabriskie Point" in 1970 and the screenplay for "Paris, Texas," which won the Palme D'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.
On television, his most recent work was in the first two seasons of Netflix series "Bloodline," which marked his final on-camera appearance.
He also collaborated with Bob Dylan in writing the 11-minute song "Brownsville Girl," which appeared on Dylan's 1986 album "Knocked Out Loaded."
"Sam Shepard is one of the greats," said Beau Willimon, creator of US television drama "House of Cards" on Monday. "He wrote of what he saw with fearless, timeless honesty. RIP maestro," Willimon wrote on Twitter.
(Source: AFP)
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