Sam Elliott(I)

Tall, thin, wiry Sam Elliott is the classic picture of the American cowboy. Elliott began his acting career on the stage and his film debut was in Butch Cassidy und Sundance Kid (1969). Although his future wife, Katharine Ross co-starred in the film, the two did not meet until they filmed Das Haus des Satans (1978) together. Over the years there would be few opportunities to act in feature westerns, but it would be television that gave him that opportunity, in Die Sacketts (1979), Die Schattenreiter (1982) and Kampf um Yellow Rose (1983), among others. He would also work in non-westerns, usually as a tough guy, as in Lifeguard (1976) and Road House (1989). In 1985 he played Cher's love interest Gar in the drama Die Maske (1985), and he was in some cop movies such as Fatal Beauty (1987) and Blue Jean Cop (1988). In the 1990s, Elliott was back on the western trail, playing everyone from Brig. Gen. John Buford in the film Gettysburg (1993) to Wild Bill Hickok in the made-for-TV movie Buffalo Girls (1995). In 1991 he wrote the screenplay and co-starred with his wife in the made-for-TV western Conagher (1991), and two years later he played Wyatt Earp's brother Virgil in Tombstone (1993), with Kurt Russell as Wyatt. In 1995 the starred as John Pierce the tense thriller The final Cut - Tödliches Risiko (1995), as a former head of a Bomb Squad who must to stop a dangerous bomber. In 1998 he was the narrator of the hilarious comedy The Big Lebowski (1998), playing him as The Stranger, and returned to the Western in the drama The Hi-Lo Country (1998), closing the 20th century with another western, the TV movie Die Gesetzlosen (1999).

Sam Elliott started the 21st century with the Stephen Frears' TV movie Fail Safe (2000) playing Congressman Raskob, and Rufmord - Jenseits der Moral (2000) as Kermit Newman, at the side of Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman, and in Wir waren Helden (2002) as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley, together Mel Gibson. In 2003 he played Gen. Thunderbolt Ross in the Ang Lee's pre-MCU Hulk (2003), repeating in another Marvel superhero movie as Caretaker in Ghost Rider (2007). After participating in the fantasy movie Der goldene Kompass (2007) and made a stellar cameo in Up in the Air (2009), Elliott played Clay Wheeler in the box office flop comedy Haben Sie das von den Morgans gehört? (2009), starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, and in 2012 he was a supporting character as Mac Macleod in Robert Redford's The Company You Keep - Die Akte Grant (2012). After the playing Coach Moore in the sport drama Draft Day - Tag der Entscheidung (2014) In 2015 Elliott was hyperactive, appearing in seven different productions including cinema and TV: Tim und Lee (2015), Für die zweite Liebe ist es nie zu spät (2015), Sam Elliott, the sixth season of Justified (2010) as Avery Markham, and Arlo & Spot (2015) voicing Butch. Two years later was absolute star in the drama The Hero (2017) as Lee Hayden, and in the sci-fi movie The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018) as Calvin Barr, to shine again as supporting character playing Bradley Cooper's brother Bobby in the multi-nominated Cooper's directorial debut A Star is Born (2018), sharing scenes with Lady Gaga, coming back again to the western in the TV series 1883 (2021) as Shea Brennan.