Sam Elliott is a tall, thin, and wiry American cowboy, embodying the classic picture of an American cowboy. He began his acting career on stage and made his film debut in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Although he co-starred with his future wife, Katharine Ross, in the film, they did not meet until they filmed The Legacy (1978) together.
Over the years, there were few opportunities to act in feature westerns, but television provided him with that chance, starring in The Sacketts (1979),The Shadow Riders (1982),and The Yellow Rose (1983),among others. He also worked in non-westerns, often playing tough guys, as in Lifeguard (1976) and Road House (1989).
In 1985, he played Cher's love interest, Gar, in the drama Mask (1985),and appeared in some cop movies, such as Fatal Beauty (1987) and Shakedown (1988). In the 1990s, Elliott returned to the western trail, playing 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),alongside Kurt Russell as Wyatt. In 1995, he starred as John Pierce in the tense thriller The Final Cut (1995),a former head of a Bomb Squad who must stop a dangerous bomber.
In 1998, he narrated the hilarious comedy The Big Lebowski (1998) 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 You Know My Name (1999).
Sam Elliott started the 21st century with the Stephen Frears' TV movie Fail Safe (2000) as Congressman Raskob, and The Contender (2000) as Kermit Newman, alongside Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, and Gary Oldman. He also appeared in We Were Soldiers (2002) as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley, alongside Mel Gibson.
In 2003, he played Gen. Thunderbolt Ross in the Ang Lee's pre-MCU Hulk (2003),and repeated his role in another Marvel superhero movie as Caretaker in Ghost Rider (2007). After participating in the fantasy movie The Golden Compass (2007),he made a stellar cameo in Up in the Air (2009).
Elliott played Clay Wheeler in the box office flop comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans? (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 (2012). After playing Coach Moore in the sport drama Draft Day (2014),he appeared in seven different productions in 2015, including Digging for Fire (2015),I'll See You in My Dreams (2015),Sam Elliott, the sixth season of Justified (2010) as Avery Markham, and The Good Dinosaur (2015) voicing Butch.
Two years later, he was the 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, shining again as a 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.
He returned to the western in the TV series 1883 (2021) as Shea Brennan.
