Sam Waterston
Encyclopedia
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor
and occasional producer
and director
. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg
in 1984's
The Killing Fields
, and his Golden Globe
- and Screen Actors Guild Award
-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy
on the NBC
television series Law & Order
. He has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild-, BAFTA
- and Emmy Award
s, having starred in over eighty film and television productions during his forty-five year career. Allmovie has characterised Waterston as having "cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid performances." In January 2010, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
.
, Massachusetts
. His mother, Alice Tucker (née
Atkinson), was an American Mayflower
descendant and worked as a landscape painter, and his father, George Chychele Waterston, was an immigrant from Leith
, Scotland
and a semanticist and language teacher. Waterston attended both the Brooks School
, a boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts
where his father taught, and the Groton School
in Groton, Massachusetts. He entered Yale University
on a scholarship in 1958 and graduated with a BA
in 1962. After graduating from Yale, he attended the Clinton Playhouse for several months. Waterston also attended the Sorbonne
in Paris
and the American Actors Workshop.
's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
, and played the title role
in Hamlet
. He continues live theater work during the summers, often seen acting at places like Long Wharf Theatre
and the Yale Repertory Theatre
in New Haven
.
Waterston made his debut in 1965's The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean, coming to prominence in Fitzwilly
in 1967. He starred as Tom with Katharine Hepburn
in a 1973 TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams
' The Glass Menagerie
. The film also featured Michael Moriarty
(as the Gentleman Caller), whom Waterston later replaced as the Executive Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order. Other films include Savages (1972), The Great Gatsby
(1974), Journey Into Fear
(1975), Capricorn One
(1978), Heaven's Gate
, Hopscotch
(1980), and The Killing Fields (1984, nominated Academy Award for Best Actor
). In 1985 he co-starred in Robert Preston
's final TV film with Mary Tyler Moore "Finnegan Begin Again
" one of three films he made in Virginia, the second also with Mary Tyler Moore
was Gore Vidal's "Lincoln
" and the third "Assault at West Point" with Samuel L. Jackson
and the only actor to appear with him in all three Virginia films Alan Sader
then Mindwalk
(1990), Serial Mom
(1994) and Woody Allen
's Interiors
(1978), Hannah and Her Sisters
(1986, cameo), September
(1987) and Crimes and Misdemeanors
(1989). Waterston is a six-time Emmy Award
nominee, as well as a winner of the Golden Globe
and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Aside from Law & Order, he has played other television roles including D.A. Forrest Bedford in I'll Fly Away
, for which he won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor - Drama Series in 1993. He also had a starring role in an episode segment on the TV series Amazing Stories
called "Mirror Mirror". In 1994 he appeared as US President William Foster, alongside Forest Whittaker and Dana Delany
, in the made for TV movie The Enemy Within, a remake of director
John Frankenheimer's
Cold War
political thriller Seven Days In May
.
Waterston also served on the Advisory Committee for the Lincoln Bicentennial, celebrating Abraham Lincoln
's 200th birthday. Waterston has portrayed Lincoln on stage and screen (The Civil War
, Gore Vidal
's Lincoln, Abe Lincoln in Illinois on Broadway
, voiced Lincoln in an exhibit at the National Constitution Center
in Philadelphia
, and delivered Lincoln's Cooper Union speech on May 5, 2004.
Waterston has appeared in episodes of four different series with Richard Belzer
: Law & Order
, Homicide: Life on the Street
, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
and Law & Order: Trial by Jury
. He also made a popular cameo appearance
on an episode of Saturday Night Live
as himself, extolling the virtues of Old Glory Insurance, meant to protect the elderly from robot
attacks.
Waterston lent his voice to the animated television series Family Guy
where he played Dr. Kaplan, the psychiatrist Brian Griffin
consults during his mid-life crisis
in the episode "Brian in Love". He voices Dr. Kaplan again in the episode "Road to Rhode Island
", but he is not credited in any other episode in which the character appears. Waterston also narrated NBC
's documentary, The Great Race, the story of the famous 4 x 10-kilometer cross-country relay at the 1994 Winter Olympics
in Lillehammer, Norway, which Italy
won over the host nation
. The special aired during NBC's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics
in Torino, Italy, on February 18, the day before the 2006 relay took place, which was also won by Italy. He added partial narration to the Ken Burns
documentary, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, serving as the voice of Thomas Jefferson
. He also played Jefferson in Burns' documentary about Jefferson
. He also appeared in the first episode of ABC's
Masters of Science Fiction
, playing an amnesia
c in the episode "A Clean Escape
".
Waterston appeared on the 5,100th edition of Jeopardy!
, on November 10, 2006, with Kathryn Erbe
of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
and Christopher Meloni
of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
. Waterston finished second to Meloni, and received a $25,000 prize, which he donated to Refugees International
and Oceana
.
Waterston is regularly featured in television advertisements for TD Ameritrade
(formerly TD Waterhouse
, which is mostly owned by Toronto-Dominion Bank
and the Ricketts family). He replaced former Law & Order castmate Steven Hill
as TD's spokesman. He has lent his voice to an ad for The Nation
.
Waterston has appeared in a recurring segment on The Colbert Report, called "Sam Waterston Says Things You Should Never Believe In A Trustworthy Manner." The segments usually involve Waterston simply stating an obviously untrue film quote in a very convincing voice.
Waterston appeared as Polonius
in the 2008 Shakespeare in the Park
production of Hamlet
. His performance received excellent reviews in The New York Times
and many other newspapers around the country, particularly in the Northeast.
Waterston narrates for Time-Life
history specials.
On February 12, 2009, Waterson joined the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College orchestra and chorus, along with the Riverside Inspirational Choir and NYC Labor Choir, in honoring Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday at the Riverside Church in New York City
. Under the direction of Maurice Peress
, they performed Earl Robinson
's "The Lonesome Train: A Music Legend for Actors, Folk Singers, Choirs, and Orchestra" in which Waterson depicted Abraham Lincoln.
On January 7, 2010, Waterston received the 2,397th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
.
Law & Order completed its 20-year run on NBC on May 24, 2010, with Waterston ending the series as its second longest-serving cast member (16 seasons).
On October 30, 2010 Waterson read Colbert's original poem "Are you sure" at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington D.C.
Waterston will return to television when he stars alongside Jeff Daniels
and Emily Mortimer
in a yet-to-be-named HBO series by Aaron Sorkin
about cable television news.
, also an actor (whose roles include that of Gerard Pitts in Peter Weir
's Dead Poets Society
). Waterston married his second wife, former model Lynn Louisa Woodruff in 1976. They have three children, daughters Katherine and Elisabeth, who are also actors, and a son, Graham.
An active humanitarian, Waterston donates considerable time to organizations such as Oceana
, where he is a board member, Refugees International
, Meals on Wheels
, The United Way, and The Episcopal Actors' Guild of America. Waterston, a practicing Episcopalian, narrated the 1999 biographical documentary of Episcopal civil rights
martyr Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Here Am I, Send Me.
He was a spokesman for the Unity08
movement, which unsuccessfully sought to run a non-
or bipartisan
presidential ticket in the 2008 presidential election
. Waterston has stated that he was a Democrat
until he left the party in disgust following the airing of Lyndon B. Johnson
's infamous "Daisy" election ad in 1964. Waterston has also appeared in print ads, and announced in television commercials, for the liberal
magazine The Nation
.
In 2002, Waterston and fellow Law & Order castmate Jerry Orbach
were honored as "Living Landmarks" by the New York Landmarks Conservancy
.
Waterston is a longtime friend and fan of the Mark Morris
Dance Group and hosted the television presentation of Mozart Dances on PBS
' Live from Lincoln Center
on August 16, 2007.
Primetime Emmys
Golden Globe Awards
Screen Actors Guild
Tony Awards
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and occasional producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg
Sydney Schanberg
Sydney Hillel Schanberg is an American journalist who is best known for his coverage of the war in Cambodia.-Life:Schanberg joined The New York Times as a journalist in 1959. He spent much of the early 1970s in Southeast Asia as a correspondent for the Times...
in 1984's
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
The Killing Fields
The Killing Fields (film)
The Killing Fields is a 1984 British drama film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is based on the experiences of two journalists: Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg. The film, which won three Academy Awards, was directed by Roland Joffé and stars Sam Waterston as...
, and his Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
- and Screen Actors Guild Award
Screen Actors Guild Awards
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...
-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy
Jack McCoy
John James "Jack" McCoy is a fictional character in the television drama Law & Order, created by Michael S. Chernuchin and played by Sam Waterston since 1994. He is the second-longest tenured character on the show, after Lt. Anita Van Buren . On January 28, 2009, McCoy's character ended the longest...
on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television series Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
. He has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild-, BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
- and Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s, having starred in over eighty film and television productions during his forty-five year career. Allmovie has characterised Waterston as having "cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid performances." In January 2010, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.
Early life
Waterston, the third of four siblings, (Roberta, George and Ellen) was born in CambridgeCambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. His mother, Alice Tucker (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Atkinson), was an American Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
descendant and worked as a landscape painter, and his father, George Chychele Waterston, was an immigrant from Leith
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and a semanticist and language teacher. Waterston attended both the Brooks School
Brooks School
Brooks School is a private, co-educational, preparatory, secondary school in North Andover, Massachusetts on the shores of Lake Cochichewick.-History:...
, a boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts
North Andover, Massachusetts
North Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. North Andover is the home of Merrimack College, a private, Catholic four-year institution ....
where his father taught, and the Groton School
Groton School
Groton School is a private, Episcopal, college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. It enrolls approximately 375 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades...
in Groton, Massachusetts. He entered Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
on a scholarship in 1958 and graduated with a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1962. After graduating from Yale, he attended the Clinton Playhouse for several months. Waterston also attended the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and the American Actors Workshop.
Career
The classically trained Waterston has numerous stage credits to his name. For example, he played an award-winning Benedick in Joseph PappJoseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
, and played the title role
Prince Hamlet
Prince Hamlet is a fictional character, the protagonist in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius and son of the previous King of Denmark, Old Hamlet. Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and...
in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. He continues live theater work during the summers, often seen acting at places like Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared....
and the Yale Repertory Theatre
Yale Repertory Theatre
The Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the...
in New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
.
Waterston made his debut in 1965's The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean, coming to prominence in Fitzwilly
Fitzwilly
Fitzwilly is a 1967 film by Delbert Mann, based on Poyntz Tyler's novel, A Garden of Cucumbers, adapted for the screen by Isobel Lennart...
in 1967. He starred as Tom with Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
in a 1973 TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie (1973 film)
The Glass Menagerie is a 1973 American television movie based on the 1944 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. It is directed by Anthony Harvey and stars Katharine Hepburn, Sam Waterston, Joanna Miles and Michael Moriarty. It marked the third screen adaptation of the play.The Glass...
. The film also featured Michael Moriarty
Michael Moriarty
Michael Moriarty is an American-Canadian actor of stage and screen, and a jazz musician. He played Benjamin Stone for four seasons on the TV series Law & Order.-Early life:...
(as the Gentleman Caller), whom Waterston later replaced as the Executive Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order. Other films include Savages (1972), The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
(1974), Journey Into Fear
Journey into Fear (1975 film)
Journey into Fear is a 1975 Canadian thriller film directed by Daniel Mann, and based on the novel Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler. It starred Sam Waterston, Zero Mostel, Yvette Mimieux, Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, Shelley Winters, Stanley Holloway, Joseph Wiseman and Ian McShane....
(1975), Capricorn One
Capricorn One
Capricorn One is a 1977 science fiction thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It stars James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O. J...
(1978), Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (film)
Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
, Hopscotch
Hopscotch (film)
Hopscotch is a 1980 American film directed by Ronald Neame and produced by Otto Plaschkes. It was written by Bryan Forbes and Brian Garfield, based on his novel of the same name....
(1980), and The Killing Fields (1984, nominated Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
). In 1985 he co-starred in Robert Preston
Robert Preston
Robert Preston may refer to:*Robert Preston , American actor*Robert Preston *Robert E. Preston , Director of the U.S. Mint 1893-98*Robert K...
's final TV film with Mary Tyler Moore "Finnegan Begin Again
Finnegan Begin Again
Finnegan Begin Again is a 1985 made-for-HBO original romantic comedy film starring Mary Tyler Moore and Robert Preston. The movie was filmed in Richmond, Virginia and premiered in February 1985 before being released on video.-Plot:...
" one of three films he made in Virginia, the second also with Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
was Gore Vidal's "Lincoln
Lincoln (novel)
Lincoln is a historical novel, part of the Narratives of Empire series by Gore Vidal.Set during the American Civil War, the novel describes the presidency of Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of several historical figures, including presidential secretary John Hay, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln,...
" and the third "Assault at West Point" with Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
and the only actor to appear with him in all three Virginia films Alan Sader
Alan Sader
Alan Sader is an American film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for being the television spokesperson for ChildFund International , an international child sponsorship charity. He has been the spokesman for the charity since 1992...
then Mindwalk
Mindwalk
Mindwalk is a 1990 feature film directed by Bernt Amadeus Capra, based on his own short story, based in turn on the book The Turning Point by his brother Fritjof Capra, the author of the book The Tao of Physics....
(1990), Serial Mom
Serial Mom
Serial Mom is a 1994 American dark satire written and directed by John Waters, starring Kathleen Turner as the title character, Sam Waterston as her husband, and Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard as her children. Despite statements to the contrary in the movie, the story is completely fictional...
(1994) and Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Interiors
Interiors
Interiors is a 1978 drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. Featured performers are Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E. G. Marshall, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton and Sam Waterston....
(1978), Hannah and Her Sisters
Hannah and Her Sisters
Hannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 American comedy-drama film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family over two years that begin and end with a family Thanksgiving dinner...
(1986, cameo), September
September
September is the 9th month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of four months with a length of 30 days.September in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of March in the Northern Hemisphere....
(1987) and Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors is a 1989 black comedy written, directed by and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Martin Landau, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Jerry Orbach, Alan Alda, Sam Waterston and Joanna Gleason....
(1989). Waterston is a six-time Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominee, as well as a winner of the Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Aside from Law & Order, he has played other television roles including D.A. Forrest Bedford in I'll Fly Away
I'll Fly Away (TV series)
I'll Fly Away is a television series set during the late 1950s and early 1960s, in an unspecified Southern U.S. state. It aired on NBC from 1991 to 1993 and starred Regina Taylor as Lilly Harper, a black housekeeper for district attorney Forrest Bedford and his family...
, for which he won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor - Drama Series in 1993. He also had a starring role in an episode segment on the TV series Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
called "Mirror Mirror". In 1994 he appeared as US President William Foster, alongside Forest Whittaker and Dana Delany
Dana Delany
Dana Welles Delany is an American film, stage, and television actress, producer, host and health activist.After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy...
, in the made for TV movie The Enemy Within, a remake of director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
John Frankenheimer's
John Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films...
Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
political thriller Seven Days In May
Seven Days in May
Seven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's 200th birthday. Waterston has portrayed Lincoln on stage and screen (The Civil War
The Civil War (documentary)
The Civil War is a documentary film created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was first broadcast on PBS on five consecutive nights from Sunday, September 23 to Thursday, September 27, 1990. Forty million viewers watched it during its initial broadcast, making it the most-watched...
, Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
's Lincoln, Abe Lincoln in Illinois on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, voiced Lincoln in an exhibit at the National Constitution Center
National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center is an organization that seeks to expand awareness and understanding of the United States Constitution and operates a museum to advance those purposes....
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, and delivered Lincoln's Cooper Union speech on May 5, 2004.
Waterston has appeared in episodes of four different series with Richard Belzer
Richard Belzer
Richard Jay Belzer is an American stand-up comedian, author, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as John Munch, which he has portrayed as a regular cast member on the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as in guest...
: Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
and Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Law & Order: Trial by Jury is an American television drama about criminal trials set in New York City. It was the third spin-off from the long-running Law & Order. The show's almost exclusive focus was on the criminal trial of the accused, showing both the prosecution's and defense's preparation...
. He also made a popular cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
on an episode of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
as himself, extolling the virtues of Old Glory Insurance, meant to protect the elderly from robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
attacks.
Waterston lent his voice to the animated television series Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
where he played Dr. Kaplan, the psychiatrist Brian Griffin
Brian Griffin
Brian Griffin is a character from the animated television series Family Guy. He is voiced by Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family, in a 15-minute short on December 20, 1998. Brian was created and designed by MacFarlane himself...
consults during his mid-life crisis
Mid-life crisis
Midlife crisis is a term coined in 1965 by Elliott Jaques and used in Western societies to describe a period of dramatic self-doubt that is felt by some individuals in the "middle years" or middle age of life, as a result of sensing the passing of their own youth and the imminence of their old age...
in the episode "Brian in Love". He voices Dr. Kaplan again in the episode "Road to Rhode Island
Road to Rhode Island
"Road to Rhode Island" is the thirteenth episode from the second season of the American animated television series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 30, 2000. In the episode, Brian volunteers to bring Stewie home from his grandparents' house in California, but the...
", but he is not credited in any other episode in which the character appears. Waterston also narrated NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's documentary, The Great Race, the story of the famous 4 x 10-kilometer cross-country relay at the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
in Lillehammer, Norway, which Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
won over the host nation
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The special aired during NBC's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
in Torino, Italy, on February 18, the day before the 2006 relay took place, which was also won by Italy. He added partial narration to the Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
documentary, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, serving as the voice of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. He also played Jefferson in Burns' documentary about Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (documentary)
Thomas Jefferson is a 1997 documentary directed and produced by Ken Burns. It covers the life and times of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States....
. He also appeared in the first episode of ABC's
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Masters of Science Fiction
Masters of Science Fiction
Masters of Science Fiction is an American television anthology series by the same creators as Masters of Horror. The show debuted on ABC on August 4, 2007 at 10PM for a run of four episodes...
, playing an amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
c in the episode "A Clean Escape
A Clean Escape
A Clean Escape is a 1985 short story by John Kessel, later adapted into a play by Kessel in 1986. It features a psychiatrist attempting to cure the President of the United States of his amnesia so that he can be held accountable for precipitating a nuclear holocaust.The story was adapted by Sam...
".
Waterston appeared on the 5,100th edition of Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, on November 10, 2006, with Kathryn Erbe
Kathryn Erbe
Kathryn Elsbeth Erbe is an American actress known for her role as Det. Alexandra Eames in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, a spin-off of Law & Order, and death row inmate Shirley Bellinger in the HBO series Oz.-Personal life:...
of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
and Christopher Meloni
Christopher Meloni
Christopher Peter Meloni is an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and as inmate Chris Keller on the HBO prison drama Oz.-Early life:Meloni was born the youngest of three children in...
of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
. Waterston finished second to Meloni, and received a $25,000 prize, which he donated to Refugees International
Refugees International
Refugees International is a humanitarian organization supporting refugees and stateless people. It publishes annual reports, as well as approximately twenty-five field reports throughout the year on refugee issues, as well as comments on international aid issues around the world...
and Oceana
Oceana (non-profit group)
Oceana is the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the world’s oceans through targeted policy campaigns....
.
Waterston is regularly featured in television advertisements for TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade is an American online broker with over 6 million U.S. customers, and many more internationally, that has grown rapidly through acquisition to become the 746th-largest US firm in 2008. TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation is the owner of TD Ameritrade Inc...
(formerly TD Waterhouse
TD Waterhouse
TD Waterhouse is the brand used for both Canadian and British brokerages within the TD Bank Financial Group. It was also formerly used for TD's American brokerage....
, which is mostly owned by Toronto-Dominion Bank
Toronto-Dominion Bank
The Toronto-Dominion Bank , is the second-largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and based on assets. It is also the sixth largest bank in North America. Commonly known as TD and operating as TD Bank Group, the bank was created in 1955 through the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the...
and the Ricketts family). He replaced former Law & Order castmate Steven Hill
Steven Hill
Steven Hill is an American film and television actor. His two better-known roles are District Attorney Adam Schiff on the NBC TV drama series Law & Order, whom he portrayed for ten seasons , and Dan Briggs, the original team leader of the Impossible Missions Force on CBS's television series...
as TD's spokesman. He has lent his voice to an ad for The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
.
Waterston has appeared in a recurring segment on The Colbert Report, called "Sam Waterston Says Things You Should Never Believe In A Trustworthy Manner." The segments usually involve Waterston simply stating an obviously untrue film quote in a very convincing voice.
Waterston appeared as Polonius
Polonius
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
in the 2008 Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park is a concept used across the world, as a form of free public presentation of William Shakespeare's works. Such performances exist in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America....
production of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. His performance received excellent reviews in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and many other newspapers around the country, particularly in the Northeast.
Waterston narrates for Time-Life
Time-Life
Time–Life is a creator and direct marketer of books, music, video/DVD, and multimedia products. Its products are sold throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia through television, print, retail, the Internet, telemarketing, and direct sales....
history specials.
On February 12, 2009, Waterson joined the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College orchestra and chorus, along with the Riverside Inspirational Choir and NYC Labor Choir, in honoring Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday at the Riverside Church in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Under the direction of Maurice Peress
Maurice Peress
Maurice Peress is an American orchestra conductor, educator and author. After serving as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein beginning in 1961, Peress went on to stand as leader of the orchestra in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1962. In 1970, he also became leader...
, they performed Earl Robinson
Earl Robinson
Earl Hawley Robinson was a singer-songwriter and composer from Seattle, Washington. Robinson is probably as well remembered for his left-leaning political views as he is for his music, including the songs "Joe Hill", "Black and White", and the cantata "Ballad for Americans"...
's "The Lonesome Train: A Music Legend for Actors, Folk Singers, Choirs, and Orchestra" in which Waterson depicted Abraham Lincoln.
On January 7, 2010, Waterston received the 2,397th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.
Law & Order completed its 20-year run on NBC on May 24, 2010, with Waterston ending the series as its second longest-serving cast member (16 seasons).
On October 30, 2010 Waterson read Colbert's original poem "Are you sure" at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington D.C.
Waterston will return to television when he stars alongside Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan...
and Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
in a yet-to-be-named HBO series by Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
about cable television news.
Personal life
Waterston was married to his first wife, Barbara Rutledge-Johns Waterston, from 1964 to 1975. They married in a Methodist ceremony at Branford College at Yale. Barbara Waterston is the sister of Alexandra Johns Stoddard. Sam and Barbara had one son, JamesJames Waterston
James Waterston is an American film and television actor whose first role was playing Gerard Pitts in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society....
, also an actor (whose roles include that of Gerard Pitts in Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
's Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.The script was written...
). Waterston married his second wife, former model Lynn Louisa Woodruff in 1976. They have three children, daughters Katherine and Elisabeth, who are also actors, and a son, Graham.
An active humanitarian, Waterston donates considerable time to organizations such as Oceana
Oceana (non-profit group)
Oceana is the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the world’s oceans through targeted policy campaigns....
, where he is a board member, Refugees International
Refugees International
Refugees International is a humanitarian organization supporting refugees and stateless people. It publishes annual reports, as well as approximately twenty-five field reports throughout the year on refugee issues, as well as comments on international aid issues around the world...
, Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels are programs that deliver meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals. The name is often used generically to refer to home-delivered meals programs, not all of which are actually named "Meals on Wheels"...
, The United Way, and The Episcopal Actors' Guild of America. Waterston, a practicing Episcopalian, narrated the 1999 biographical documentary of Episcopal civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
martyr Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Here Am I, Send Me.
He was a spokesman for the Unity08
Unity08
Unity08 was an American political reform movement that sought to offer all voters an opportunity to directly engage in politics by ranking the most crucial issues facing the country, discussing them with the candidates and engaging in an online, secure vote to nominate a bipartisan alternative to...
movement, which unsuccessfully sought to run a non-
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
or bipartisan
presidential ticket in the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. Waterston has stated that he was a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
until he left the party in disgust following the airing of Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
's infamous "Daisy" election ad in 1964. Waterston has also appeared in print ads, and announced in television commercials, for the liberal
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
magazine The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
.
In 2002, Waterston and fellow Law & Order castmate Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...
were honored as "Living Landmarks" by the New York Landmarks Conservancy
New York Landmarks Conservancy
The New York Landmarks Conservancy is a non-profit organization "dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and reusing New York’s architecturally significant buildings." It provides technical assistance, project management services, grants, and loans, to owners of historic properties in New York State...
.
Waterston is a longtime friend and fan of the Mark Morris
Mark Morris
Mark William Morris is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments...
Dance Group and hosted the television presentation of Mozart Dances on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
' Live from Lincoln Center
Live from Lincoln Center
Live From Lincoln Center is an ongoing series of musical performances produced by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with Thirteen/WNET in New York City....
on August 16, 2007.
Filmography
- The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1965) – Andy
- FitzwillyFitzwillyFitzwilly is a 1967 film by Delbert Mann, based on Poyntz Tyler's novel, A Garden of Cucumbers, adapted for the screen by Isobel Lennart...
(1967) – Oliver - Generation (1969) – Desmond
- Three (1969) – Taylor
- Cover Me BabeCover Me BabeCover Me Babe is a 1970 drama film about a young filmmaker who will do anything to get a studio contract. The film was directed by Noel Black, and stars Robert Forster and Sondra Locke....
(1970) – Cameraman - Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?Who Killed Mary What's Er' Name? is a 1971 film starring comedian and actor Red Buttons and featuring Conrad Bain, Sylvia Miles, Alice Playten and Sam Waterston. Ernest Pintoff was the director, and Gary McFarland wrote the soundtrack music.The plot centers around the murder of a prostitute in a...
(1971) – Alex - Mahoney's Estate (1972) – Felix
- Savages (1972) – James, the Limping Man
- The Glass MenagerieThe Glass Menagerie (1973 film)The Glass Menagerie is a 1973 American television movie based on the 1944 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. It is directed by Anthony Harvey and stars Katharine Hepburn, Sam Waterston, Joanna Miles and Michael Moriarty. It marked the third screen adaptation of the play.The Glass...
(1973) – Tom Wingfield - The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby (1974 film)The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
(1974) – Nick Carraway - Reflections of Murder (1974) – Michael Elliott
- Rancho DeluxeRancho DeluxeRancho Deluxe is a comedy western film that was directed by Frank Perry and released in 1975. Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston star as two cattle rustlers in modern-day Montana who plague a wealthy ranch owner, played by Clifton James....
(1975) – Cecil Colson - Journey into FearJourney into Fear (1975 film)Journey into Fear is a 1975 Canadian thriller film directed by Daniel Mann, and based on the novel Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler. It starred Sam Waterston, Zero Mostel, Yvette Mimieux, Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, Shelley Winters, Stanley Holloway, Joseph Wiseman and Ian McShane....
(1975) – Mr. Graham - Sweet RevengeSweet Revenge (1976 film)Sweet Revenge is a 1976 comedy film directed by Jerry Schatzberg. It was entered into the 1976 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Stockard Channing - Vurrla Kowsky* Sam Waterston - Le Clerq...
(1976) – Le Clerq - Capricorn OneCapricorn OneCapricorn One is a 1977 science fiction thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It stars James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O. J...
(1978) – Lt. Col. Peter Willis - InteriorsInteriorsInteriors is a 1978 drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. Featured performers are Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E. G. Marshall, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton and Sam Waterston....
(1978) – Mike - Eagle's WingEagle's WingEagle's Wing is a Euro-Western Eastmancolor film made in 1979. It stars Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston and Harvey Keitel. It was directed by Anthony Harvey, with a story by Michael Syson and a screenplay by John Briley. It won the British Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematography Award for...
(1979) – White Bull - Friendly FireFriendly Fire (1979 film)Friendly Fire is an American television movie first broadcast on the ABC network on April 22, 1979. Watched that night by an estimated 64 million people, Friendly Fire went on to win four Emmy awards, including Outstanding Drama Special....
– C D Bryan - Sweet WilliamSweet WilliamDianthus barbatus is a species of Dianthus native to southern Europe and parts of Asia which has become a popular ornamental garden plant. It is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant growing to 30–75 cm tall, with flowers in a dense cluster of up to 30 at the top of the stems...
(1980) – William - HopscotchHopscotch (film)Hopscotch is a 1980 American film directed by Ronald Neame and produced by Otto Plaschkes. It was written by Bryan Forbes and Brian Garfield, based on his novel of the same name....
(1980) – Joe Cutter - Heaven's GateHeaven's Gate (film)Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
(1980) – Frank Canton - OppenheimerOppenheimer (TV miniseries)Oppenheimer is a television serial about J. Robert Oppenheimer, produced by the BBC. It began broadcast in the United Kingdom on 29 October 1980 and in the United States on 11 May 1982...
(1982) – J. Robert Oppenheimer - Q.E.D. (1982) Professor Quentin Everett Deverill
- The Killing FieldsThe Killing Fields (film)The Killing Fields is a 1984 British drama film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is based on the experiences of two journalists: Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg. The film, which won three Academy Awards, was directed by Roland Joffé and stars Sam Waterston as...
(1984) – Sydney Schanberg - The Boy Who Loved TrollsThe Boy Who Loved TrollsThe Boy Who Loved Trolls is a 1984 American Fantasy/Adventure film. The story was adapted by James A. DeVinney from a play by John Wheatcroft. The original play, entitled Ofoeti, was telecast in 1966, on NET Playhouse.-Plot:...
(1984) – Ofoeti - Love lives on (1985)
- Warning SignWarning Sign (film)Warning Sign is a 1985 science fiction-horror film directed by Hal Barwood and starring Sam Waterston, Kathleen Quinlan, and Yaphet Kotto.-Plot:...
(1985) – Cal Morse - Hannah and Her SistersHannah and Her SistersHannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 American comedy-drama film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family over two years that begin and end with a family Thanksgiving dinner...
(1986) – David (cameo) - Just Between FriendsJust Between FriendsJust Between Friends is a 1986 drama film about two women whose friendship is tested by tragedy. The film was written, produced and directed by Allan Burns, and it stars Mary Tyler Moore, Ted Danson, and Christine Lahti.-Plot summary:...
(1986) – Harry Crandall - Flagrant désir (1986) – Gerry Morrison
- Devil's Paradise (1987) – Mr. Jones
- September (1987) – Peter
- Lincoln (1988) – Abraham Lincoln
- Welcome Home (1989) – Woody
- Crimes and MisdemeanorsCrimes and MisdemeanorsCrimes and Misdemeanors is a 1989 black comedy written, directed by and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Martin Landau, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Jerry Orbach, Alan Alda, Sam Waterston and Joanna Gleason....
(1989) – Ben - Lantern HillLantern Hill (film)Lantern Hill is a 1990 television film written and directed by filmmaker Kevin Sullivan and based on the novel by L.M. Montgomery Jane of Lantern Hill. The film was co-produced by Sullivan Entertainment, the Disney Channel and CBC. The film is similar to Anne Of Green Gables, mainly because of the...
(1990) – Andrew Stuart - The Civil War (1990) – Abraham Lincoln (voice)
- The Nightmare Years (1990) – William Shirer
- MindwalkMindwalkMindwalk is a 1990 feature film directed by Bernt Amadeus Capra, based on his own short story, based in turn on the book The Turning Point by his brother Fritjof Capra, the author of the book The Tao of Physics....
(1990) – Jack Edwards - The Man in the Moon (1991) – Matthew Trant
- A Captive in the LandA Captive in the LandA Captive in the Land is a 1993 film based on a novel by James Aldridge, starring Sam Waterston as Royce, Aleksandr Potapov as Averyanov, and Keir Giles as Squadron Leader Cook. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Directed by John Berry...
(1993) – Royce - David's MotherDavid's MotherDavid's Mother is a 1994 television film directed by Robert Allan Ackerman and stars Kirstie Alley as a devoted mother trying to cope with her autistic teenage son David . The film aired on CBS on April 10, 1994, it has also aired internationally. In the UK it can often be seen on television...
(1994) – John Nils - Serial MomSerial MomSerial Mom is a 1994 American dark satire written and directed by John Waters, starring Kathleen Turner as the title character, Sam Waterston as her husband, and Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard as her children. Despite statements to the contrary in the movie, the story is completely fictional...
(1994) – Eugene Sutphin, D.D.S. - The Enemy Within (1994) – President William Foster
- The Journey of August KingThe Journey of August KingThe Journey of August King is a 1996 film directed by John Duigan. It stars Jason Patric and Thandie Newton-Cast:*Jason Patric as Asshole King*Thandie Newton as Annalees*Larry Drake as Olaf Singletary*Sam Waterston as Mooney Wright...
(1995) – Mooney Wright, Producer - NixonNixon (film)Nixon is a 1995 American biographical film directed by Oliver Stone for Cinergi Pictures that tells the story of the political and personal life of former US President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins....
(1995) – Richard HelmsRichard HelmsRichard McGarrah Helms was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1966 to 1973. He was the only director to have been convicted of lying to the United States Congress over Central Intelligence Agency undercover activities. In 1977, he was sentenced to the maximum fine and received a suspended...
(scenes present only in director's cut) - The ProprietorThe ProprietorThe Proprietor is a 1996 film. It is a U.S.-French co-production Merchant Ivory film, directed by Ismail Merchant for Jeanne Moreau's request.-Starring:*Jeanne Moreau - Adrienne Mark*Sean Young - Virginia Kelly*Sam Waterston - Harry Bancroft...
(1996) – Harry Bancroft - Shadow ConspiracyShadow ConspiracyShadow Conspiracy is a 1997 political thriller film starring Charlie Sheen, Donald Sutherland and Linda Hamilton. Sam Waterston, famous for his role as a district attorney in Law & Order, appears in the film as the president of the United States. It is the final film directed by George P...
(1997) – The President - Miracle at MidnightMiracle at MidnightMiracle at Midnight is a TV movie based on the Rescue of the Danish Jews in Denmark during the Holocaust. It is a Disney production and premiered on ccc in 1998. It was also portrayed in Ms...
(1998) – Dr. Karl Koster - A House Divided (2000) – David Dickson
- The Matthew Shepard Story (2002) – Dennis Shepard
- Le DivorceLe DivorceLe Divorce is a 2003 Merchant Ivory Productions' film directed by James Ivory and the screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Ivory, based on Diane Johnson's bestselling novel.-Summary:...
(2003) – Chester Walker - The CommissionThe CommissionThe Commission may refer to:*The Commission , the governing body of the Mafia in the United States*Sicilian Mafia Commission, governing body of the Mafia in Italy*European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union...
(2003) – J. Lee Rankin - The National Parks: America's Best IdeaThe National Parks: America's Best IdeaThe National Parks: America's Best Idea is a 2009 documentary film for television, DVD and companion book by director/producer Ken Burns and producer/writer Dayton Duncan which features the United States National Park system and traces the system's history...
(2009) – Various historical figures (voice)
Awards
Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
- Nominee: 1984 - Best Actor in a Leading Role, "The Killing Fields"
Primetime Emmys
- Nominee: 2000 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 1999 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 1998 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Winner: 1996 - Outstanding Informational Series, "Lost Civilizations"
- Nominee: 1994 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Special, "I'll Fly Away: Then and Now"
- Nominee: 1993 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, "I'll Fly Away"
- Nominee: 1992 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, "I'll Fly Away"
- Nominee: 1974 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama, "The Glass Menagerie"
Golden Globe Awards
- Nominee: 1995 - Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Drama, "Law & Order"
- Winner: 1993 - Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Drama, "I'll Fly Away"
- Nominee: 1992 - Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Drama, "I'll Fly Away"
- Nominee: 1985 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, "The Killing Fields"
- Nominee: 1983 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, "Oppenheimer"
- Nominee: 1975 - Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, "The Great Gatsby"
- Nominee: 1975 - Most Promising Newcomer - Male, "The Great Gatsby"
Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
- Nominee: 2004 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 2002 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 2001 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 2000 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Winner: 1999 - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 1999 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 1998 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
- Nominee: 1997 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, "Law & Order"
Tony Awards
- Nominee: 1994 - Best Actor in a Play, "Abe Lincoln in Illinois"