Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, deep, resonant voice, and Western drawl lend to frequent casting as cowboys and ranchers.
Early life[]
Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training instructor mother and a father who worked for the Department of the Interior.[1] He moved from California to Oregon with his family during his teenage years, where he graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland. He attended Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, where he completed a two-year program and was cast as one of the leads in Guys and Dolls. The local newspaper suggested that Elliott should be a professional actor. Soon after, Elliott declared he was going to Hollywood to become a star. Elliott is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Cal State L.A.. He worked in construction while studying acting in Los Angeles. Elliott also lived for a short time in Princeton, West Virginia.[2]
Career[]
Elliott began his career as a character actor; his appearance, voice and bearing were ideally suited to Westerns. One of his first film roles was as 'Card Player #2' in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
In 1970-71, Sam Elliott starred as Doug Robert in the hit TV series Mission: Impossible, and played the lead character Sam Damon in Once an Eagle,an NBC miniseries during the 1976-77 season. He also had the starring role as Rick Carlson in the summer sleeper, Lifeguard (1976). In 1979, he played the oldest brother in the made-for-TV miniseries The Sacketts, also starring Tom Selleck, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Glenn Ford, Ruth Roman, Mercedes McCambridge, Jack Elam, and Gilbert Roland, among others. He later played a wife killer in the miniseries Murder in Texas (1981) and A Death in California (1985). Elliott's breakthrough came with his supporting role in Mask (1985) when he co-starred with Cher. He has made guest appearances on shows such as Felony Squad,Gunsmoke, Lancer and Hawaii Five-O and has been featured in many TV movies, including "Prancer" (1989) and Buffalo Girls (1995) in which he played Wild Bill Hickok. He has also starred inRoad House (1989) with Patrick Swayze and played Virgil Earp in Tombstone (1993), which starred Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. In 1998, Elliot was named the grand marshal of the Calgary Stampede parade and rode in the procession before 300,000 spectators.
Elliott co-starred in We Were Soldiers, which is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, portraying Sgt. Maj. Basil L. Plumley. He also played General John Buford in the 1993 filmGettysburg. Elliott played General Thunderbolt Ross in the 2003 film Hulk.
Elliott played "The Stranger", a character narrating the story of The Big Lebowski (1998). In 2005 he appeared in Thank You For Smoking where he played a former Marlboro Man advertisement cowboy who has developed lung-cancer. Elliot joined Nicolas Cage in 2007 in the popular Ghost Rider, and stood out in another film the same year, in The Golden Compass as a key character, Lee Scoresby. In 2009, Elliott had a small role in Up In The Air in which he portrayed the Captain of an American Airlines jet.
Elliott has performed voice-over narration for various commercials. He has lent his voice to campaigns for Dodge, IBM, Kinney Drugs, Union Pacific, and, most notably, the American Beef Council, succeeding Robert Mitchum in the latter. Since late 2007, Elliott has done voice-overs for Coors beer, bringing his deep, rich voice and "western" appeal to the brand brewed in Colorado. In 2010, Dodge hired Elliott to do the voice-over for their Ram Heavy Duty truck commercial. He is also the new voice for Smokey Bear ("Only YOU can prevent wildfires"). Coincidentally, Elliott and "Smokey" share the same birthday (the U.S. Forest Service recognizes this as Smokey's "birthdate"). He lent his voice to "Buster" (a.k.a. Chupadogra) in Marmaduke (2010). He also narrated the opening of the Super Bowl introductions, in 2011 Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas. He has a supporting role in the forthcoming film The Company You Keep.
Personal life[]
Elliott married actress Katharine Ross in 1984. Although Ross starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which Elliott had a very small role, the two did not meet and begin dating until 1978 when they both starred with Roger Daltrey in The Legacy. He and Katharine Ross have a daughter, Cleo Cole Elliott,[3] born in 1984, who is now a musician in Malibu.[4][5]
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Card Player #2 | |
| 1972 | Frogs | Pickett Smith | |
| 1975 | I Will Fight No More Forever | Captain Wood | |
| 1976 | Lifeguard | Rick Carlson | |
| 1978 | The Legacy | Pete Danner | |
| 1982 | Shadow Riders | Dal Traven | |
| 1985 | Mask | Gar | |
| 1987 | Fatal Beauty | Mike Marshak | |
| 1988 | Shakedown | Richie Marks | Also titled "Blue Jean Cop" |
| 1989 | Road House | Wade Garrett | |
| 1989 | Prancer | John Riggs | |
| 1990 | Sibling Rivalry | Charles Turner Jr. | |
| 1991 | Rush | Dodd | |
| 1993 | Tombstone | Virgil Earp | |
| 1993 | Gettysburg | Brigadier General John Buford | |
| 1995 | Final Cut | John Pierce | |
| 1995 | The Desperate Trail | Bill Speaks | direct to video film |
| 1995 | The Ranger, The coo, and a Hole in the Sky | Bill Bell | film |
| 1996 | Dog Watch | Charlie Falon | direct to video film |
| 1998 | The Big Lebowski | The Stranger | |
| 1998 | The Hi-Lo Country | Jim Ed Love | |
| 2000 | The Contender | Kermit Newman | |
| 2001 | Pretty When You Cry | Detective Lukas Black | |
| 2002 | We Were Soldiers | Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley | |
| 2003 | Hulk | General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross | |
| 2003 | Off the Map | Charley | |
| 2006 | Barnyard: The Original Party Animals | Ben the cow | voice only |
| 2006 | Thank You for Smoking | Lorne Lutch | |
| 2006 | The Alibi | The Mormon | |
| 2007 | Ghost Rider | The Caretaker / Carter Slade | |
| 2007 | The Golden Compass | Lee Scoresby | |
| 2009 | Did You Hear About the Morgans? | Clay Wheeler | |
| 2009 | Up in the Air | Maynard Finch | Nominated - Critics Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated - Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble |
| 2010 | Marmaduke | Chupadogra | voice only |
| 2011 | The Big Bang | Simon Kestral | |
| 2012 | The Company You Keep | Mac Mcleod |
Television[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | The Challenge | Bryant | Television film |
| 1970-1971 | Mission: Impossible | Dr. Douglas Robert (Lang) | |
| 1971 | Assault on the Wayne | Ensign William 'Bill' Sandover | (TV movie) |
| 1972 | Gunsmoke | Corey Soames | |
| 1972 | Molly and Lawless John | Johnny Lawler | (TV movie) |
| 1973 | The Blue Knight | Detective Charlie Bronski | (TV movie) |
| 1974 | The Two-Faced Corpse | Jack Houston | (TV movie) |
| 1974 | Evel Knievel | Evel Knievel | (TV movie) |
| 1975 | I Will Fight No More Forever | Captain Wood | (TV movie) |
| 1976 | Once an Eagle | Sam Damon | TV miniseries |
| 1977 | Aspen | Tom Keating | (TV movie) |
| 1979 | The Sacketts | Tell Sackett | (TV movie) |
| 1980 | Wild Times | Hugh Cardiff | (TV movie) |
| 1981 | Murder in Texas | Dr. John Hill | (TV movie) |
| 1982 | The Shadow Riders | Dal Traven | (TV movie) |
| 1983 | The Yellow Rose | Chance McKenzie | |
| 1983 | Travis McGee | (TV movie) | |
| 1985 | A Death in California | D. Jordan Williams | TV miniseries |
| 1986 | Gone to Texas | Sam Houston | (TV movie) |
| 1987 | The Quick and the Dead | Con Vallian | (TV movie) |
| 1991 | Conagher | Conn Conagher | (TV movie)
Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1993 | Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert | Lyn Cutter | (TV movie) |
| 1995 | The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky | Bill Bell | (TV movie) |
| 1995 | Buffalo Girls | Wild Bill Hickock | (TV movie)
Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1995 | Blue River | Henry Howland | (TV movie) |
| 1996 | Woman Undone | Ross Bishop | (TV movie) |
| 1997 | Rough Riders | Capt. Bucky O'Neil | (TV movie) |
| 1998 | Texarkana | (TV movie) | |
| 1999 | You Know My Name | Bill Tilghman | (TV movie) |
| 2000 | Fail Safe | Congressman Raskob | (TV movie) |
| 2006 | Avenger | Calvin Dexter | (TV movie) |
| 2010 | November Christmas | Jess Sanford | (TV movie) |