Sam Shepard | Entertainment News, Photos, and Videos

Sam Shepard, famous playwright as well as an accomplished actor and director, passed away at his home in Kentucky on Sunday (July 30) after battling ALS, the New York Times reports. He was 73.

A gifted playwright, he wrote forty-four in his lifetime, along with essays, books of short stories, and memoirs. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for the play Buried Child. In addition to his career as a writer, Sam was an accomplished actor and he was nominated for an Oscar for his work in 1983′s The Right Stuff.

Recently, Sam was featured in the Netflix series Bloodline in the role of Robert Rayburn. Other notable works include August: Osage County, Black Hawk Down, The Notebook, The Pelican Brief, and dozens more.

Our thoughts are with Sam‘s loved ones during this difficult time. He is survived by his two kids and his sisters.

Check out this first look trailer at Meg Ryan‘s directorial debut, Ithaca!

Here’s the synopsis: When his older brother leaves to fight in the Second World War, fourteen-year-old Homer Macauley takes on a job as a bicycle telegraph messenger to provide for his widowed mother, his older sister and his younger brother.

Homer delivers messages of love, hope, pain and death to the good people of Ithaca, but soon must grapple with a message that will change him forever.

Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan‘s 1943 novel The Human Comedy, Ithaca is a coming-of-age story about the exuberance of youth, the abruptness of change, the sweetness of life, the sting of death, and the sheer goodness that lives in each and every one of us.

The film also stars Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater, Alex Neustaedter, Tom Hanks, Meg and her son Jack Quaid.

Ithaca hits theaters on September 9!

Sam Shepard was arrested on Monday (May 25) on the suspicion of drunken driving in Santa Fe, N.M.

The 71-year-old Oscar-nominated actor, who can be seen in the new Netflix series Bloodline, was arrested after the security guard at a restaurant complained about a possibly intoxicated driver, according to the Associated Press.

“Our officer could smell alcohol on his breath, and he had bloodshot, watery eyes,” Santa Fe police Lt. Andrea Dobyns said.

The cops were called after he tried to leave the restaurant in his pickup truck, but the emergency brake was on. Sam reportedly told the officers that he had two tequila drinks and was planning to drive home. He declined to take a breathalyzer test and he failed a field sobriety test.

This is the second time that Sam has been arrested on drunken driving charges. He was previously arrested in central Illinois after driving 16 mph over the speed limit at double the legal blood-alcohol limit.

Tina Fey and Ellie Kemper speak on stage about the new Netflix show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt at the 2015 TCA Press Tour at the Langham Hotel on Wednesday (January 7) in Pasadena, Calif.

The two comedians were joined at the event by their actors on the show Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski, as well as co-creator Robert Carlock.

At the tour, Netflix announced that Kimmy Schmidt will premiere on Friday, March 6!

Also pictured inside: The cast of Bloodline, starring Linda Cerdellini, Norbert Leo Butz, Sam Shepard, Sissy Spacek, and Kyle Chandler, at their panel. Bloodline will premiere on March 20!

FYI: Ellie is wearing a Bluemarine dress, Christian Louboutin shoes, and Ivy jewels. Tina is wearing a Thom Browne dress.

10+ pictures inside of the Netflix shows at the TCA panels…More Here! »