What is Sam Shepard?
{{for|the neurosurgeon convicted and later acquitted of murdering his wife|Sam Sheppard}} {{Infobox actor | name = Sam Shepard | image = Sam Shepard Stealth cropped.JPG | caption = Shepard in June 2004 | birth_name = Samuel Shepard Rogers III | birth_date = {{Birth date|1943|11|5}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|07|27|1943|11|5}} | death_place = [[Midway, Kentucky]], U.S. | birth_place = [[Fort Sheridan, Illinois]], U.S. | occupation = {{Flatlist| * Playwright * actor * author * screenwriter * director}} | years_active = 1963–2017 | spouse = {{marriage|[[O-Lan Jones]]|1969|1984|end=div.}} | partner = {{nowrap|[[Jessica Lange]] ({{abbr|c.|cohabited}} 1982; {{abbr|sep.|separated}} 2009)}} | children = 3 | website = {{URL|http://www.sam-shepard.com}} }} '''Samuel Shepard Rogers III'''<ref>{{cite book| last = Shewey| first = Don| title = Sam Shepard| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kihaAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA13| accessdate = December 14, 2015| year = 1997| publisher = Perseus Books Group| isbn = 978-0-306-80770-1 }}</ref> (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an [[United States|American]] [[playwright]], [[actor]], and [[television director|television]] and [[movie director]]. He is the author of several books. He received the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] in 1979 for his play ''[[Buried Child]]''. Shepard was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his portrayal of pilot [[Chuck Yeager]] in ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]'' (1983). == Early years == Born '''Samuel Shepard Rogers IV''' in [[Fort Sheridan, Illinois]], he worked on a ranch as a teenager. His father, Samuel Shepard Rogers, Jr., was a teacher and farmer. His father was in the [[United States Army Air Forces]] as a [[bomber]] [[aviator|pilot]] during [[World War II]]. His mother, Jane Elaine (née Schook), was a teacher and from [[Chicago]], Illinois.<ref>{{cite web | title=Sam Shepard Biography | url=http://www.filmrefere