No American writer captured familial dysfunction, the unwinding of the mind via travel, the inevitable degradation and tragic thrust of this continent’s doomed plight, and the dislocation of male identity post-JFK’s assassination like Sam Shepard.
Born in Fort Sheridan, Illinois in 1943, Samuel Shepard Rogers IV began his highly creative and imaginative odyssey through the United States, contemporary theatre, cinema, and countless writings illuminating the spirit of his homeland. His mother was a teacher and his father was a bomber pilot during World War II. The family relocated to California where Shepard was brought up in the town of Duarte. The young Shepard was essentially a farmhand looking after his family as a result of his father’s gradual decline into alcoholism. Shepard moved to New York City in the early 60’s and rapidly molded himself into a promising young playwright. The many plays (some award winning) penned by Shepard during this period include The Rock Garden (1964), Icarus’s Mother (1965) and 4-H Club (1965). Theatrical writings continued to flood from Shepard in the upcoming years. He ventured into cinema with his screenplay for Michelangelo Antonioni’s vivid Zabriskie Point (1969). In 1977 Shepard was approached by Terrence Malick to act in his film, Days Of Heaven (1978). Pretty much from this moment on Shepard became a supporting player in films (sometimes a lead) and received an Oscar nomination in 1984 for his portrayal of pilot, Chuck Yeager, in Philip Kauffman’s epic The Right Stuff.
Shepard's recent acting gigs included- Out of the Furnace (2013), August: Osage County (2013), Midnight Special (2016), In Dubious Battle (2016) and Never Here (2017). It seemed Shepard’s acting paydays simply supported his passion for writing endeavors (he often expressed disdain for the fraudulence of Hollywood). In the excellent collection- 2 Prospectors: The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark (2013), Shepard said in a 2009 Mother’s Day letter to his friend of decades, Dark, “Writing has really been my whole life and when I’m not doing it I feel worse than useless.” Shepard’s collections of short stories, Cruising Paradise (1997), Great Dream of Heaven (2003) and Day Out of Days (2010) are expert meditations on testosterone fueled angels and beasts. He's responsible for some of the best literature since the late 50's. Hawk Moon (1973), Motel Chronicles (1980) and his plays, Buried Child (1977), True West (1980), Fool for Love (1983) and Heartless (2011) are entirely satisfying, fully realized literary works. Shepard also directed the films Far North (1988), starring his then partner Jessica Lange, and the odd western, Silent Tongue (1994), with River Phoenix and Richard Harris.
I grew up reading and watching Sam Shepard. He was a movie star, a respected dramatist and his girl was Jessica Lange. What more could a man ask for? He was the first writer (along w/the more surly and vulgar David Mamet) who showed me the possibilities and endless worlds you could access through playwriting. His words were a testament to the joys of exploring your own boundless imaginative reservoirs while taking measure of your mortal coil. And nobody was more imaginative than Shepard. Just look at the titles of some of his plays, Forensic and the Navigators (1967), Operation Sidewinder (1970), Geography of a Horse Dreamer (1974), Inacoma (1977), States of Shock (1991) and Ages of the Moon (2009). Shepard wrote over 40 (known) plays and is considered (along w/Mamet and Harold Pinter) the leading contributor to American theatre since 1960. His drug fueled head-trippin' plays of the 60’s and early 70’s gave way to more grounded examinations of chaotic families in the late 70’s and 80’s. He won the Pultizer prize for drama for Buried Child in 1979. He presented brothers, sisters, mothers and definitely- fathers (usually molded after his own)- in a sort of existential communicative limbo. His characters resort to violence in their desperate attempts to convey a myriad of contradictory feelings. They hover and brood. They're volatile and hopelessly limited by some unseen hand or force. Imprisoned by their North American birthright. Strangled by the bloody, savage history of their country.
The essence of Shepard’s work is male rootlessness. He was known for his love of driving long distances around the U.S. (he disliked flying). Shepard's protagonists ache for the wide expanse of the open road and suffer intensely as a result. They're men that struggle with the “outlaw” and the “hero” inside. The outlaw needs revolt, havoc, and transparency and the hero desires to save the day, bring order and be a family man. American lyricist E.Y. Harburg perhaps summed up Shepard’s work best when he wrote- “My heart wants roots. My mind wants wings. I cannot bear their bickerings.” A few years back- Shepard was as restless and productive as ever with films in production (as an actor), theatrical endeavors surfacing (his play, Heartless premiered in London- in 2012 and he wrote the play, A Particle of Dread in 2013) and 2 Prospectors: The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark was turned into faux-documentary film, Shepard and Dark (2012), directed by Treva Wurmfield.
Sam Shepard had one of the best runs of any artist in this century. He was an "American Original." No other writer scoped out and documented the guts of the “American Dream” like Shepard. He'll be missed. As is the case with such creative, dynamic individuals- we're damn lucky to always have his work.
July 31, 2017