The ”cowboy poet” has died from complications of Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS.
(Charles Sykes / Associated Press)
Sam Shepard bridged the worlds of film and theatre as an accomplished, respected playwright, actor and author.
He wrote 44 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays and memoirs.
Shepard received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play “Buried Child.”
Four years later he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot chuck Yeager in “The Right Stuff.”
Shepard was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1986, the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1994 and also received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theatre Award recognizing him as a master American dramatist.