Waterston, Sam (b.1940), actor. The dark, thoughtful leading man was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and educated at Yale and the Sorbonne, training at the American Actors Workshop in Paris and with Herbert Berghof and Frank Corsaro in New York. After some experience in stock, Waterston made his Broadway debut in 1963. Later that year he performed for the first time at the New York Shakespeare Festival, where he often returned and gave his finest performances, such as Prince Hal in Henry IV (1968), Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing (1972), Hamlet (1972 and 1975), and Prospero in The Tempest (1974). Other provocative performances include the tramp Vladimir in Waiting for Godot (1978), the preoccupied shrink Oliver DeVreck in Lunch Hour (1980), the American diplomat John Honeyman in A Walk in the Woods (1988), and the title president‐to‐be in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1993). Mel Gussow in the New York Times described his Benedict as “sharp‐tongued and headstrong, never losing sight of the character's propulsively romantic nature. . . . Waterston leaps at it with enormous grace and agility.”
Sam Waterston
| American Theater Guide: Sam Waterston |
| Actor: Sam Waterston |
- Born: Nov 15, 1940 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Occupation: Actor
- Active: '70s-2000s
- Major Genres: Drama, History
- Career Highlights: Crimes and Misdemeanors, Friendly Fire, The Killing Fields
- First Major Screen Credit: The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1966)
Biography
Educated at Yale and the Sorbonne, Sam Waterston is far more than the "general purpose actor" he was pegged to be by one well-known film historian. A respected player on the stage, screen, and television, Waterston has cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid performances.After beginning his career on the New York stage -- where he has continued to perform throughout his long career -- Waterston made his film debut in The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean in 1966. For a long time, his film career was not nearly as remarkable as his work on the stage and television, although non-New York audiences were made acutely aware of the depth and breadth of Waterston's talents when, in 1973, he starred in the television adaptation The Glass Menagerie (appearing alongside Katherine Hepburn) and -- also on TV -- in Tony Richardson's A Delicate Balance. The following year, the actor further impressed television audiences when he starred as Benedick in the CBS TV adaptation of Joseph Papp's staging of Much Ado About Nothing.
Also in 1974, Waterston proved to be the best of the screen's Nick Carraways when he was cast in that expository role in the The Great Gatsby; subsequent films ranged from the midnight-movie favorite Rancho Deluxe (1975) to the unmitigated disaster Heaven's Gate (1981). In the late '70s, Waterston was "adopted" by Woody Allen, joining the director's ever-increasing unofficial stock company for such films as Interiors (1978), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), September (1987), and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Waterston was nominated for an Academy award for his powerful portrayal of a conscience-stricken American journalist in The Killing Fields (1984); three years later he appeared in Swimming to Cambodia, Spalding Gray's acclaimed documentary about the making of the film. Subsequent film appearances included a turn as Kathleen Turner's hilariously timid husband in Serial Mom (1994) and a role in Ismail Merchant's The Proprietor in 1996.
However, Waterston has continued to make his greatest mark on television, starring in the acclaimed The Nightmare Years in 1989 and in the similarly lauded series I'll Fly Away and Law & Order. In addition, he has gained a certain amount of fame playing Abraham Lincoln multiple times: In 1988, he starred in Gore Vidal's Lincoln on television, while he won a Tony nod playing him in the Lincoln Center production of Abe Lincoln in Illinois and supplied the president's voice for Ken Burns' documentary The Civil War. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
| Filmography: Sam Waterston |
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Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery Buy this Movie |
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| Wikipedia: Sam Waterston |
| Sam Waterston | |
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 Sam Waterston displaying gifts from fans |
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| Born | Samuel Atkinson Waterston November 15, 1940 Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | actor |
| Years active | 1967 — present |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Rutledge (1964-1969) Lynn Louisa Woodruff (1976-) |
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor noted particularly for his portrayal of Jack McCoy on the NBC television series Law & Order. He has also appeared in many feature films.
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Early life
Waterston, the third of four siblings, (Roberta, George and Ellen) was born in Cambridge, 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.[1][2] 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.
Career
The classically trained Waterston has quite a few stage credits to his name. For example, he played an award-winning Benedick in Joseph Papp's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and played the title character 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.[3][4]
Waterston made his film debut in Fitzwilly in 1967. He starred with Katharine Hepburn in a 1973 TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. The film also featured Michael Moriarty, 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 and Hopscotch (1980), The Killing Fields (1984, nominated Academy Award for Best Actor), Mindwalk (1990), Serial Mom (1994) and Woody Allen's Interiors (1978), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, cameo), 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 user from robot attacks.[5]
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 amnesiac 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.[6][7]
Waterston narrates for Time-Life history specials.
Personal life
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,[8] narrated the 1999 biographical documentary of Episcopal civil rights martyr Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Here Am I, Send Me.
A political independent, he was a spokesman for the Unity08 movement, which unsuccessfully sought to run a non- or bipartisan presidential ticket in the 2008 presidential election.[9] 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.[10] Waterston has also appeared in print ads, and announced in television commercials, for the liberal magazine The Nation. Waterson did however volunteer at an Obama campaign office just outside of Phildelphia on election day 2008.
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.
His son James Waterston is also an actor (his most famous role probably being that of Gerard Pitts in Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society), as are his daughters Katherine and Elisabeth Waterston.
Filmography
- The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1965) - Andy
- Fitzwilly (1967) - Oliver
- Generation (1969) - Desmond
- Three (1969) - Taylor
- Cover Me Babe (1970) - Cameraman
- Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? (1971) - Alex
- Mahoney's Estate (1972) - Felix
- Savages (1972) - James, the Limping Man
- The Glass Menagerie (1973) - Tom Wingfield
- The Great Gatsby (1974) - Nick Carraway
- Rancho Deluxe (1975) - Cecil Colson
- Journey into Fear (1975) - Mr. Graham
- Sweet Revenge (1976) - Le Clerq
- Capricorn One (1978) - Lt. Col. Peter Willis
- Interiors (1978) - Mike
- Eagle's Wing (1979) - White Bull
- Sweet William (1980) - William
- Hopscotch (1980) - Joe Cutter
- Heaven's Gate (1980) - Frank Canton
- Oppenheimer (1982) - J. Robert Oppenheimer
- Q.E.D. (1982) Professor Quentin Everett Deverill
- The Killing Fields (1984) - Sydney Schanberg
- The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984) - Ofoeti
- Love lives on (1985)
- Warning Sign (1985) - Cal Morse
- Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) - David (cameo)
- Just Between Friends (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 Misdemeanors (1989) - Ben
- A Captive in the Land (1990) - Royce
- Mindwalk (1990) - Jack Edwards
- The Man in the Moon (1991) - Matthew Trant
- David's Mother (1994) - John Nils
- Serial Mom (1994) - Eugene Sutphin, D.D.S.
- The Enemy Within (1994) - President William Foster
- The Journey of August King (1995) - Mooney Wright, Producer
- Nixon (1995) - Richard Helms (scenes deleted)
- The Proprietor (1996) - Harry Bancroft
- Shadow Conspiracy (1997) - The President
- Miracle at Midnight (1998) - Dr. Karl Koster
- The Matthew Shepard Story (2002) - Dennis Shepard
- Le Divorce (2003) - Chester Walker
- The Commission (2003) - J. Lee Rankin
- The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009) - Various historical figures (voice)
Awards
- 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"
- 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"
- 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"
References
- ^ Ancestry of Sam Waterston
- ^ Sam Waterston Biography - Biography.com
- ^ Playbill.com, "Sam Waterston Travesties Opens at Long Wharf Theatre May 11,"
- ^ Celia Wren, "When Chekov had a Bad Dream, New York Times
- ^ Hulu.com:[1] Retrieved June 9, 2009.
- ^ http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/126/219/ Public Theater - Shakespeare in the Park
- ^ http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/showpage.php?t=haml6406 NYTheatre
- ^ The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church
- ^ Unity08.org: "Actor Sam Waterston Calls on Americans to Join Growing 2008 Political Movement, Unity08" Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ http://www.newsweek.com/id/78180
External links
- Sam Waterston at the Internet Movie Database
- Sam Waterston at the Internet Broadway Database
- Sam Waterston at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
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Mentioned in
- Journey into Fear (1974 War Film)
- Cover Me Babe (1970 Drama Film)
- Mastermind (1981 Drama TV Series)
- Virtue: Law & Order (TV Episode) (1994 Crime TV Episode)
- The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984 Children's/Family Film)
- September (1987 Drama Film)
- Dandy, the All American Girl (1976 Crime Film)
- Flagrant Desir (1985 Mystery Film)
- Devil's Paradise (1987 Film)
- The Enemy Within (1994 Thriller Film)
- Lost Civilizations: Mesopotamia - Return to Eden (1995 History Film)
- Lost Civilizations: Aegean - Legacy of Atlantis (1995 History Film)
- Lost Civilizations: Africa - A History Denied (1995 History Film)
- Lost Civilizations: China - Dynasties of Power (1995 History Film)
