- Born
- Birth nameSamuel Pack Elliott
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Tall, thin, wiry Sam Elliott is the classic picture of the American cowboy. Elliott began his acting career on the stage and his film debut was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Although his future wife, Katharine Ross co-starred in the film, the two did not meet until they filmed The Legacy (1978) together. Over the years there would be few opportunities to act in feature westerns, but it would be television that gave him that opportunity, in The Sacketts (1979), The Shadow Riders (1982) and The Yellow Rose (1983), among others. He would also work in non-westerns, usually as a tough guy, as in Lifeguard (1976) and Road House (1989). In 1985 he played Cher's love interest Gar in the drama Mask (1985), and he was in some cop movies such as Fatal Beauty (1987) and Shakedown (1988). In the 1990s, Elliott was back on the western trail, playing everyone from Brig. Gen. John Buford in the film Gettysburg (1993) to Wild Bill Hickok in the made-for-TV movie Buffalo Girls (1995). In 1991 he wrote the screenplay and co-starred with his wife in the made-for-TV western Conagher (1991), and two years later he played Wyatt Earp's brother Virgil in Tombstone (1993), with Kurt Russell as Wyatt. In 1995 the starred as John Pierce the tense thriller The Final Cut (1995), as a former head of a Bomb Squad who must to stop a dangerous bomber. In 1998 he was the narrator of the hilarious comedy The Big Lebowski (1998), playing him as The Stranger, and returned to the Western in the drama The Hi-Lo Country (1998), closing the 20th century with another western, the TV movie You Know My Name (1999).
Sam Elliott started the 21st century with the Stephen Frears' TV movie Fail Safe (2000) playing Congressman Raskob, and The Contender (2000) as Kermit Newman, at the side of Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman, and in We Were Soldiers (2002) as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley, together Mel Gibson. In 2003 he played Gen. Thunderbolt Ross in the Ang Lee's pre-MCU Hulk (2003), repeating in another Marvel superhero movie as Caretaker in Ghost Rider (2007). After participating in the fantasy movie The Golden Compass (2007) and made a stellar cameo in Up in the Air (2009), Elliott played Clay Wheeler in the box office flop comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009), starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, and in 2012 he was a supporting character as Mac Macleod in Robert Redford's The Company You Keep (2012). After the playing Coach Moore in the sport drama Draft Day (2014) In 2015 Elliott was hyperactive, appearing in seven different productions including cinema and TV: Digging for Fire (2015), I'll See You in My Dreams (2015), Sam Elliott, the sixth season of Justified (2010) as Avery Markham, and The Good Dinosaur (2015) voicing Butch. Two years later was absolute star in the drama The Hero (2017) as Lee Hayden, and in the sci-fi movie The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018) as Calvin Barr, to shine again as supporting character playing Bradley Cooper's brother Bobby in the multi-nominated Cooper's directorial debut A Star Is Born (2018), sharing scenes with Lady Gaga, coming back again to the western in the TV series 1883 (2021) as Shea Brennan.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <[email protected]>, updated by Chockys
- SpouseKatharine Ross(May 1, 1984 - present) (1 child)
- Children
- ParentsGlynn Mamie Elliott (Sparks)Henry Nelson Elliott
- RelativesLaurie Oldenstål(Cousin)
- Deep commanding voice
- Frequently plays cowboys
- Often plays guides or mentors to lead characters
- Grey hair and thick mustache
- His hairy chest, frequently displayed in his movie and TV appearances.
- Used his own Winchester 1894 rifle in Thank You for Smoking (2005).
- Shares birthday with "Smokey Bear," and Sam Elliott has been the voice of "Smokey Bear" since 2008.
- Inducted into the International Mustache Hall of Fame in 2015 (inaugural class) in the category Film & Television.
- To date, he is the first (and only) actor to be nominated for an Emmy for guest-performing on Robot Chicken (2001).
- Samuel Pack Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to Glynn Mamie (Sparks), a physical training instructor who taught at a high school, and Henry Nelson Elliott, who worked for the Department of the Interior as a predator control specialist. His parents were both born in Texas. Sam is mainly of English and Scottish descent.
- [in the December 1976 issue of "Playgirl"] I don't want to be known as a sex symbol. There's a great stigma that goes with that tag. I want to be a Sam Elliott.
- I've spent my entire career on horseback or on a motorcycle. It boxes you in, the way people perceive you. I read a lot of scripts. Most of 'em go to other actors.
- I think I might have been a more interesting actor, had more of a career earlier on, if I had more formal preparation. When I see something ten years later that I was in I think, "Boy, would I love to do that over."
- I was really happy that Ang Lee won the Best Director award, I got to know him very well on Hulk (2003). But I'm not the Brokeback Mountain (2005) crowd, what can I tell ya. I'm more of a purist. But at the same time, it's a new day.
- I'm picky, very picky. I wanted to be an actor since I was nine years old and I figured that was only one way to ever have any longevity and that's to be careful about what kind of work you do. You can work for money, do a lot of whatever comes your way and not have any kind of a yardstick to measure quality by, and people, you know you'll make a lot of money if you're lucky, and people will get fed up and sick of seeing you and that's it onto the next one. - On his career choices.
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