Sam Elliott

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Sam Elliott

Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. In films, he is often characterized by his rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache

Moustache

A moustache is facial hair grown on the upper lip. Often the term implies that the wearer grows only upper-lip hair while shaving the hair on his chin and cheeks....
and gruff speaking voice.

ott was born in Sacramento

Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the Capital of the United States U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County, California. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive California Central Valley, it is the seventh-largest city in California.....
, California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
, to a physical training instructor mother and a father who worked for the Department of the Interior. He moved from California to Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
with his family during his teenage years, where he graduated from David Douglas High School

David Douglas High School

David Douglas High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. The school is named after 19th-century Scottish botanist David Douglas, namesake of such Pacific Northwest species as the Douglas-fir....
in Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States United States, near the confluence of the Willamette River and Columbia River rivers in the state of Oregon....
.

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Biography

Early life

Elliott was born in Sacramento

Sacramento, California

California

Oregon

David Douglas High School

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States United States, near the confluence of the Willamette River and Columbia River rivers in the state of Oregon....
. He attended Clark College

Clark College

Clark College may mean:*Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia *Clark College , a community college in the state of Washington...
in Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Clark County, Washington. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management's April 1, 2008 estimate, the city has a population of 162,400, making it the fourth largest city in the state....
, where he completed a two-year program. During that time Elliott tried out for and got a leading role in "Guys and Dolls". The local newspaper suggested that Elliott should be a professional actor. Soon after, Elliott got the acting bug and declared he was going to Hollywood to become a star. Elliott is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded March 9, 1856 at the University of Alabama. SAE is the largest social college fraternity by total initiates with more than 288,000 initiated members....
fraternity at the California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Los Angeles is a public university, part of the California State University system. The campus is located in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the University Hills, Los Angeles, California district at the center of Los Angeles metropolitan area just five miles from Los Angeles civic and cultural center....
. He worked in construction while studying acting in Los Angeles. Elliott also lived for a short time in Princeton, West Virginia

Princeton, West Virginia

Princeton is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, West Virginia, United States. The population was 6,347 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield, West Virginia, WV-Virginia Bluefield micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578....
.

Career

Elliott began his career as a character actor, his appearance and bearing ideally suited for Westerns.

His debut role in film (a bit part as 'Card Player #2') was in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a American Revisionist Western that tells the story of bank robbers Butch Cassidy and his partner Harry Longabaugh , based loosely on historical fact....
.

During 1970-71, Elliott starred as Doug Robert in the hit TV series Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible began as an American television series that chronicles the missions of a team of secret United States government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force ....
and later played a wife killer in the miniseries

Miniseries

A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes....
Murder in Texas (1981) and A Death in California (1986). He has made guest appearances on shows such as Felony Squad
Felony Squad

Felony Squad is a half-hour television Police procedural originally broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company network from September 12, 1966 to January 31, 1969, a span encompassing 73 episodes....
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, Lancer
Lancer (TV series)

Lancer is a 1968-1970 Western television series on Columbia Broadcasting System, which starred Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Wayne Maunder as a father with two half-brother sons, an arrangement similar to the more successful Bonanza on National Broadcasting Company....
and Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O

Hawaii Five-O is an United States television series that starred Jack Lord as Lead Detective for a fictional Hawaii state police department....
and has been featured in many TV movies; for instance, he played Wild Bill Hickock in Buffalo Girls
Buffalo Girls

Buffalo Girls is a 1990 novel written by American author Larry McMurtry about Calamity Jane . It is written in the novel prose style mixed with a series of letters from Calamity Jane to her daughter....
(1995). In 1998, Elliot was named the grand marshall of the Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede, which bills itself as The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, is a large festival, fair, and rodeo held in Calgary, Alberta for 10 days every summer from early to mid-July....
parade and rode in the procession before 300,000 spectators.

The young Elliott was often cast for his masculine appeal. In his early movies—The Games
The Games (film)

The Games was a 1970 in film film based on the Hugh Atkinson novel and adapted to the screen by Erich Segal. It was film director by Michael Winner....
, Frogs
Frogs (film)

Frogs is a 1972 in film horror film film director by George McCowan. The film falls into the "eco-horror" category since it tells the story of an upper-class Southern United States family who are victimized by several different animal species, including snakes, birds, and lizards, as well as the occasional butterfly....
, Molly and Lawless John—he performed a number of scenes without his shirt. In 1975's Lifeguard, he appeared in much of the movie wearing nothing more than a pair of swim trunks. In 1978's The Legacy, he shed all his clothes for a nude scene. As late as 2003, when he was in his late 50s, Elliott still managed to retain his sex appeal as he stripped to the waist for a scene in Off the Map.

Elliott's voice can be heard as the voice-over narration for commercials from time to time. In the past, he has lent his voice to campaigns for Chevy, IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
, Union Pacific, and, most notably, took over as the voice of the American Beef Council after Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an Academy Award-nominated United States film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s....
died. He also is the voice of Smokey Bear

Smokey Bear

Smokey Bear is a mascot of the United States Forest Service created to educate the public on the dangers of forest fires.Smokey Bear's message "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" was created in 1944 by the Ad Council....
. In 2007, Toyota hired Elliott to perform voice-overs for the new Toyota Tundra

Toyota Tundra

The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck sold by Toyota that originally went into production in 1999 . The Tundra was built with an United States look and feel and ultimately had something the T100 never did, a V8 engine option....
truck commercials, playing on the rich and gravelly delivery of his voice. Since late 2007, Elliot has been heard doing voice-overs for Coors Beer, bringing his deep, rich voice and "western" appeal to the beer brewed in Colorado.

The US Army's Officer Professional Development Recommended Reading List includes only two novel

Novel

File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
s: The Killer Angels
The Killer Angels

The Killer Angels is a historical novel by Michael Shaara that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975 in literature. The book tells the story of four days of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War: June 29, 1863, as the troops of both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America move into bat...
by Michael Shaara

Michael Shaara

Michael Shaara was an American writer of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. He was born to Italian immigrant parents in Jersey City, New Jersey, graduated from Rutgers University in 1951, and served as an airborne infantry officer in the Korean War....
and Once an Eagle
Once an Eagle

Once an Eagle is a nine hour United States television mini-series directed by Richard Michaels and E.W. Swackhamer.The picture was written by Peter S....
by Anton Myrer

Anton Myrer

Anton Olmstead Myrer was an United States author, best known for the historical military novel Once an Eagle....
. The one common element in both novels is that Elliott has a starring role in the film adaptations of both, playing a US Army general officer. Elliott also co-stars in another movie, We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers is a 2002 in film Cinema of the United States war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965, the first major engagement of United States United States Armed Forces in the Vietnam War....
, which is based on a book from that same reading list We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young
We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young

We Were Soldiers Once? And Young is a 1992 in literature book by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and war journalist Joseph L. Galloway about the Vietnam War....
, portraying Sgt. Maj. Basil L. Plumley

Basil L. Plumley

Basil L. Plumley is most famous for his action s as a Sergeant-Major of the United States Army 1st Battalion, US 7th Cavalry Regiment, at the Battle of Ia Drang ....
.

Personal life

Elliott has been married to actress Katharine Ross

Katharine Ross

Katharine Juliet Ross is an Academy Award-nominated American film and theatre actress. Trained at the San Francisco Workshop, she is perhaps best known for her role as Elaine Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate, opposite Dustin Hoffman, and her role as Etta Place in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, opposite Paul Newman a...
since 1984. Although Ross starred in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a American Revisionist Western that tells the story of bank robbers Butch Cassidy and his partner Harry Longabaugh , based loosely on historical fact....
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

Roger Daltrey

Roger Harry Daltrey Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock music band The Who....
in The Legacy
The Legacy (film)

The Legacy is a 1978 in film British-American horror film directed by the late Richard Marquand and starring Katharine Ross and Sam Elliott....
. He and Ross had a daughter, Cleo Rose, on September 17, 1984.

Filmography

Year	Title
2007	Ghost Rider Ghost Rider (film) *Ghost Rider* is a 2007 in film superhero film based on the fictional character Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider . The film is directed by Mark Steven Johnson and stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider.... The Golden Compass
2006	Barnyard: The Original Party Animals The Final Season The Final Season *The Final Season* is a 2007 baseball film starring Sean Astin, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tom Arnold , Powers Boothe, Brett Claywell, Michael Angarano, and Marshall Bell and directed by David Mickey Evans.... Thank You for Smoking Thank You for Smoking *Thank You for Smoking* is a 2006 in film Golden Globe Award-nominated comedy-drama satire directed by Jason Reitman and produced by David O. Sacks.... Avenger (TV movie)
2005	The Alibi The Alibi *The Alibi* is a 2006 in film United States film directed by Matt Checkowski and Kurt Mattila. The film was released to DVD on December 5, 2006 under the title *Lies and Alibis*....
2003	Hulk Hulk (film) *Hulk* is a 2003 superhero film based on the fictional character Marvel Comics Hulk . Ang Lee directed the film, which stars Eric Bana as Dr.... Off the Map Off the Map (film) *Off the Map* is a 2003 in film drama film directed by Campbell Scott. The play and screenplay were written by Joan Ackermann.An eccentric family lives in separate existence from the outside world....
2002	We Were Soldiers We Were Soldiers *We Were Soldiers* is a 2002 in film Cinema of the United States war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965, the first major engagement of United States United States Armed Forces in the Vietnam War....
2001	Pretty When You Cry
2000	The Contender The Contender (film) *The Contender* is a political thriller starring Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and Christian Slater. The film was directed by Rod Lurie and focuses on a U.S.... Fail Safe (TV movie)
1999	You Know My Name You Know My Name (film) *You Know My Name* is a 1999 made-for-television movie, written and directed by John Kent Harrison. Its plot is based on the real-life story of lawman and gunslinger Bill Tilghman, who also became noted for directing and producing the 1915 Western , The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws.... (TV movie)
1998	The Big Lebowski The Big Lebowski *The Big Lebowski* is a 1998 in film Cinema of the United States comedy film written and directed by Coen brothers. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeffrey Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles, California slacker and avid bowling, who refers to himself as "the Dude".... The Hi-Lo Country The Hi-Lo Country *The Hi-Lo Country* is a 1998 in film drama/western film directed by Stephen Frears, starring Billy Crudup, Woody Harrelson, Cole Hauser, Sam Elliott, Patricia Arquette, Penelope Cruz and Enrique Castillo.... Texarkana (TV movie)
1997	Rough Riders Rough Riders (film) *Rough Riders* is a 1997 three hour television miniseries about Theodore Roosevelt and the regiment . The series chronicles the major land battles of the Spanish-American War of 1898.... (TV movie)
1996	Dog Watch Dog watch Dog watch, in marine corps or naval terminology, is a Watch system, a period of work duty or a work shift, between 1600 and 2000 . It is split into two, first and last dog watches.... (direct to video film Woman Undone (TV movie)
1995	Final Cut Final Cut (film) *Final Cut* is a film released in 1998, jointly written and directed by Dominic Anciano and Ray Burdis . This film features several of the actors / actresses from the Primrose Hill set.... The Desperate Trail (direct to video film) The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (TV movie) Buffalo Girls Buffalo Girls *Buffalo Girls* is a 1990 novel written by American author Larry McMurtry about Calamity Jane . It is written in the novel prose style mixed with a series of letters from Calamity Jane to her daughter.... (TV movie)
1993	Tombstone Tombstone (film) *Tombstone* is a 1993 Western movie written by Kevin Jarre and directed by its star Kurt Russell, with credited director George P. Cosmatos ghost-directing.... Gettysburg Gettysburg (film) *Gettysburg* is a 1993 film that dramatizes the decisive Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. It was directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, who also wrote the screenplay, a close adaptation of Michael Shaara's 1974 novel The Killer Angels, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1975.... Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert (TV movie)
1991	Rush Rush (1991 film) *Rush* is a crime drama film, based on a novel written by Kim Wozencraft. An experienced narcotics detective and his inexperienced partner go after an elusive drug dealer ....
1991	Conagher Conagher Conagher is a 1991 Turner Network Television Western film based on a Louis L?Amour novel of the same name, starring Sam Elliott as Conn Conagher, an honest, hardworking cowboy who learns that his fellow ranch hands plan to steal the boss's cattle.... (TV movie)
1990	Sibling Rivalry
1989	Prancer Prancer (film) *Prancer* is a 1989 family film starring Sam Elliott and Cloris Leachman. It was directed by John D. Hancock. It was filmed in northwestern Indiana, near LaPorte, and in Three Oaks, Michigan.... Road House Road House (1989 film) *Road House* is a 1989 in film action film directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze as a Bouncer at a seedy roadside bar who protects a small town in Missouri from a corrupt businessman....
1988	Shakedown Shakedown (1988 film) *Shakedown* is a 1988 in film crime drama/action movie movie starring Peter Weller and Sam Elliott. The movie is about an idealistic lawyer teaming with a veteran cop to find out the truth in a possible police corruption scandal....
1987	Fatal Beauty Fatal Beauty *Fatal Beauty* is a 1987 in film comedy film-drama film film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Sam Elliott, directed by Tom Holland . The screenplay was written by Hilary Henkin and Dean Riesner.... Louis L'Amour's The Quick and the Dead
1985	Mask Mask (film) *Mask* is a 1985 in film drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. Sam Elliott and Laura Dern are featured in supporting roles....
1983	Travis McGee Travis McGee Travis McGee is a fictional character and detective created by prolific United States mystery writer John D. MacDonald. Unlike almost all other detectives from crime fiction, McGee is neither a police officer nor a licensed private investigator; rather, he's a self-described "salvage consultant" who recovers others' property for a fee.... (TV movie)
1982	The Shadow Riders (TV movie)
1981	Murder in Texas (TV movie)
Wild Times (TV movie)
The Sacketts (TV movie)
1978	The Legacy
1977	Aspen (TV movie)
1976	Lifeguard Lifeguard (film) *Lifeguard* is a 96-minute movie released by Paramount Pictures in 1976. It was directed by Daniel Petrie, based upon a screenplay by Ron Koslow.... Once an Eagle Once an Eagle *Once an Eagle* is a nine hour United States television mini-series directed by Richard Michaels and E.W. Swackhamer.The picture was written by Peter S.... (TV movie)
1975	Will Fight No More Forever (TV movie)
1974	Evel Knievel Evel Knievel This article is about the stunt performer. For the wooden roller coaster by the same name, see Evel Knievel Robert Craig Knievel , better known as the Evel Knievel , was an United States motorcycle Stunt performer, an entertainer famous in the United States and elsewhere between the late 1960s and early 1980s.... (TV movie)
1973	The Blue Knight The Blue Knight The Blue Knight as a name or title has several meanings:* Greg Valentine , also known as "The Blue Knight", an American professional wrestler* HMM-365 - United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron known as the Blue Knights.... (TV movie)
1972	Molly and Lawless John (TV movie) Frogs Frogs (film) *Frogs* is a 1972 in film horror film film director by George McCowan. The film falls into the "eco-horror" category since it tells the story of an upper-class Southern United States family who are victimized by several different animal species, including snakes, birds, and lizards, as well as the occasional butterfly....
1971	Assault on the Wayne (TV movie)
1970	The Games The Games (film) *The Games* was a 1970 in film film based on the Hugh Atkinson novel and adapted to the screen by Erich Segal. It was film director by Michael Winner.... The Challenge (TV movie)
1969	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* is a American Revisionist Western that tells the story of bank robbers Butch Cassidy and his partner Harry Longabaugh , based loosely on historical fact....

External links

, fansite
, a Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States....
article on the Sam Elliott cowboy stereotype