What’s been keeping Sam Elliott busy the last few years? For starters, he not only starred in the Netflix series The Ranch, but also produced 18 episodes. He had a starring role in 2017’s The Hero alongside his wife Katharine in a role written especially for him. His performance in the 2018 smash A Star is Born has been critically acclaimed and has been nominated for numerous awards.
Sam’s wife Katharine, who was a huge star in the 1960s and 70s, has been working less over the last few years, but is still far from retired. She recently completed filming a performance in the upcoming comedy Attachments.
Sam’s Love For Westerns
It’s been said before that Sam Elliot’s decades-long association with the genre of western movies has been due to many factors. Among them are his height, his commanding physical presence, and his deep powerful baritone voice. Yes, his mustache hasn’t exactly hurt either. And of course there is his outdoor upbringing and a father who worked for the US Fish & Wildlife Service. But there’s also something else that has drawn Sam to this near-mythical world.
“I think it has something to do with integrity and a man’s word and honor and all that kind of stuff,” Elliot said. “Values, morality, all that kind of stuff that everybody looks kind of down their nose at”. Amen, Sam. Nobody could have said it better.
The Reason He Did It
We know that Sam Elliott’s father never approved of his choice to pursue acting as a career. And yet he has indicated that his father was a major reason behind his decision. It’s not easy trying to do something that you think will make someone happy and facing rejection for that very thing. One can only imagine the burden Sam has been carrying since his father’s sudden death when Sam was just 18 and not yet successful.
“That’s the worst part of it,” Sam said. “When you don’t think your dad’s proud of you.” He said that many of his other hobbies, like fishing, found favor in his father’s eyes, but not his choice of career.
Fond Memories
When Sam is asked about his favorite movie project, instead of answering in terms of movie or role, he prefers to talk about the crew and work conditions instead. The way he likes to put it is,“I think what I remember most about films are the people rather than the films themselves”. And as far as that’s concerned, his best on set experience has been on The Hero.
Sam says the cast and crew of The Hero were a dream to work with, and that the whole project was a “labor of love”. One would hope so, given that the role -- indeed, the whole movie -- was written just for Sam.
Fits Just Right
You know how sometimes something fits so perfectly, it’s like it was meant to be? Well that was certainly the case with Sam Elliott and the role of Lee Hayden in The Hero. The writer and director of the movie, Brett Haley, had enjoyed working with Sam so much in their previous movie I’ll See You in My Dreams, that he created this entire movie just for him.
It’s not every day that an actor has a movie made to order for him. And as successful and respected as Sam has been, he’s certainly not an A-level superstar. So this was a rare and beautiful event for which he felt “totally flattered”. The movie itself was a beloved and acclaimed success.