Sam Elliott

Background

Samuel Pack Elliott was born on August 9, 1944, in Sacramento. He moved from California to Portland, Oregon, at 13. Elliott spent his teenage years living in northeast Portland and graduated from David Douglas High School in 1962. Elliott studied at the University of Oregon as an English and psychology major for two terms before dropping out. He returned to Portland and attended Clark College in nearby Vancouver, Washington. He completed a two-year program and worked in a stage production of Guys and Dolls. The Vancouver Columbian newspaper praised Elliott for his performance. After he graduated from Clark in 1965, Elliott re-enrolled at the University of Oregon but dropped out again before completing his studies after his father suffered from a fatal heart attack. In the late 1960s, Elliott relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Elliott served in the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing (the Hollywood Guard) at Van Nuys Airport before the unit moved to Channel Islands Air National Guard Station.

In 1969, Elliott made his voice-acting debut as Dan Kenyon in Judd for the Defense in The Crystal Maze. That same year, he also appeared in Lancer playing Renslo. He appeared in two more episodes of the series between 1970 and 1971. In the 1970–1971 television season, Elliott starred in the hit series Mission: Impossible as Doug Robert for numerous episodes. In 1975, Elliott was cast as Charles Wood in the television film I Will Fight No More Forever. From 1976 to 1977, he played the lead character Sam Damon in the miniseries Once an Eagle. He starred as Rick Carlson in the summer sleeper hit Lifeguard, marking his feature film breakthrough.

In 1977, Elliott played the role of Tom Keating in the miniseries Aspen. He played an abusive wife-killer in the miniseries Murder in Texas. He has made guest appearances on shows like Felony Squad, Gunsmoke, Lancer, and Hawaii Five-O. Elliott had a supporting role in Mask and the Christmas film Prancer. In 1986, he starred in the T.V. movie Gone to Texas. Elliott played Wade Garrett in Road House. He portrayed General John Buford in the 1993 historical drama Gettysburg and played Virgil Earp in The Western Tombstone. Elliott also played The Stranger, a character narrating the story of The Big Lebowski. He subsequently co-starred in We Were Soldiers, an adaptation of We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, in which he portrayed Basil L. Plumley. He starred in the 2003 action film Hulk as General Thaddeus Ross.

In 2005, he played a former Marlboro Man advertisement cowboy who has developed lung cancer in Thank You for Smoking. In 2006, he provided the voice for Ben the Cow in the animated film Barnyard. In 2007, Elliott joined the comic book adaptation Ghost Rider. Elliott appeared in The Golden Compass as the character Lee Scoresby. The film is based on the Northern Lights in Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. In 2009, Elliott had a small role in Up In The Air, in which he portrayed the chief pilot of American Airlines. He has appeared thrice as Ron Dunn in Parks and Recreation. He then provided the voice of Buster in the animated film Marmaduke. In 2015, he won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for his role in Justified.