Tributes to playwright who loved Westerns

UNITED STATES: Actors led the tributes yesterday to Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer-winning writer whose plays chronicled masculinity in the American West.

Shepard, a prolific writer and Oscar-nominated actor whose career spanned five decades, died at his home in Kentucky of complications arising from motor neurone disease. He was 73.

He wrote 44 plays and numerous books, memoirs and short stories, and was regarded as one of the most influential playwrights of his generation.

The Illinois-born actor also appeared in dozens of films – many of them Westerns – including Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven; Steel Magnolias; The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; and Mud.

He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as the pilot Chuck Yeager in 1983’s The Right Stuff.

Shepard is best remembered for his influential plays and prominent role in the Off-offbroadway movement performances in theatres with fewer than 100 seats.

His 1979 play Buried Child won the Pulitzer for drama. Two other plays – True West and Fool for Love – were also nominated for Pulitzers.

The actor Don Cheadle recalled a time he met the writer. He wrote on Twitter: ‘‘Literally bumped into Sam Shepard many years ago, both of us on our way to see Pillow Man on Broadway. We had a great chat/walk. #hero RIP.’’

Shepard’s plays were known for their black humour and brutal honesty.

Speaking to The Times in 2014, he recalled vivid memories of his mother packing a Luger when he was a child; touring with Bob Dylan; and travelling with the Rolling Stones. – The Times