Samuel Shepard Rogers III (born November 5, 1943), known professionally as
Sam Shepard, is an American playwright, actor, author, screenwriter, and director, whose body of work spans over half a century. He is the author of forty-four 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. He was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot
Chuck Yeager in
The Right Stuff (1983). Shepard received the
PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a master American dramatist in 2009.
New York described him as "the greatest American playwright of his generation."