Sam Shepard Arrested For DUI

It seems actor and playwright Sam Shepard has been arrested on preliminary charges of speeding and drunken driving in the state of Illinois.There have been no shortage of celebrities arrested this holiday season for drunk driving. You can now add Sam Shepard to the list.Police say officers stopped Sam Shepard early Saturday in the central Illinois town of Normal. It seems the 65-year-old Shepard was driving 16 mph over the 30 mph speed limit. A breath test indicated Shepard’s blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit.

Sam Shepard told police he had been at a tavern in nearby Bloomington and was heading to a hotel. He said he was on his way to his home in Kentucky from Minnesota.Samuel Shepard Rogers III or ‘Sam Shepard’ was born on November 5, 1943 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois so his age is 65. He is an award winning actor, a noteable playwright, and director. He has written a number of short stories and essays and in 1979 he won a Pulitzer Prize for his play ‘Buried Child.’

Both of Sam Shepard’s parents were teachers and he attended college for awhile but dropped out to join a traveling theatre group.In 1978, Sam Shepard began his acting career in earnest when he was cast in Days of Heaven opposite Richard Gere and Brooke Adams. This led to other important films and roles, most notably his portrayal of Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff, earning him an Oscar nomination in 1984. By 1986, one of his plays, Fool for Love, was being made into a film directed by Robert Altman; his play A Lie of the Mind was on Broadway with an all-star cast including Harvey Keitel and Geraldine Page.

He was married to actress O-Lan Jones from 1969 to 1984, with whom he has one son, Jesse Mojo Shepard. Shepard met Oscar-winning actress Jessica Lange on the set of a movie they both starred in called Frances. He moved in with her in 1983, and they have been together ever since. They have two children, Hannah Jane born 1985 and Walker Samuel Shepard, born 1987.