Early life

Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training instructor mother and a father who worked for the Department of the Interior. He moved from California to Oregon with his family during his teenage years, where he graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland. He attended Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, where he completed a two-year program and was cast as one of the leads in Guys and Dolls. The local newspaper suggested that Elliott should be a professional actor. Soon after, Elliott declared he was going to Hollywood to become a star. Elliott is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Cal State LA. He worked in construction while studying acting in Los Angeles and served in the California Army National Guard. Elliott also lived for a short time in Princeton, West Virginia.

Elliott has a family heritage from Texas—with a relative who was in the Battle of the Alamo.

Career

Elliott began his career as a character actor; his appearance, voice, and bearing were well-suited to Westerns. One of his first film roles was as 'Card Player #2' in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

In the 1970-71 television season, Sam Elliott starred as Doug Robert in the hit TV series Mission: Impossible, and played the lead character Sam Damon in Once an Eagle, an NBC miniseries during the 1976-77 season. He played Tom Keating in the mini-series Aspen in 1977. He had the starring role as Rick Carlson in the summer hit sleeper Lifeguard (1976). In 1979, he played the oldest brother in the made-for-TV miniseries The Sacketts, also starring Tom Selleck, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Glenn Ford, Ruth Roman, Mercedes McCambridge, Jack Elam, and Gilbert Roland. He later played a wife killer in the miniseries Murder in Texas (1981) and A Death in California (1985). Elliott's breakthrough came with his supporting role in Mask (1985) when he co-starred with Cher. He has made guest appearances on shows such as Felony Squad, Gunsmoke, Lancer, and Hawaii Five-O and has been featured in many TV movies, including Prancer (1989) and Buffalo Girls (1995) in which he played Wild Bill Hickok. In 1986 he starred in a TV movie Gone to Texas based on a biography of Sam Houston. The role allowed him to play Houston as both fighter and a man who grew into a skillful political leader; the film depicted his disgrace as Governor of Tennessee, his return to his Cherokee Nation friends, and his pivotal role in the liberation of Texas from Mexico in 1836. Elliott played Wade Garrett in Road House (1989) with Patrick Swayze and played Virgil Earp in Tombstone (1993), which starred Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. In 1998, Elliot was named the grand marshal of the Calgary Stampede parade and rode in the procession before an estimated 300,000 spectators.

Elliott co-starred in We Were Soldiers, which is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, portraying Sgt. Maj. Basil L. Plumley. He portrayed General John Buford in the 1993 film Gettysburg. He played General Thunderbolt Ross in the 2003 film Hulk.

Elliott played "The Stranger", a character narrating the story of The Big Lebowski (1998). In 2005 he appeared in Thank You for Smoking, as a former Marlboro Man advertisement cowboy who has developed lung cancer. Elliott joined Nicolas Cage in 2007 in the comic book adaptation Ghost Rider, and stood out in another film that same year, in The Golden Compass as Lee Scoresby. In 2009, Elliott had a small role in Up In The Air in which he portrayed the Chief Pilot of American Airlines. He has appeared three times on Parks and Recreation as Ron Dunn, the Eagleton equivalent of Ron Swanson; Ron Dunn is a hippie, compared to Swanson's staunch survivalist-Libertarian personality. He has a supporting role in the film The Company You Keep and played a college football coach in 2014's Draft Day.

In 2015, Elliott played the role of Karl, Lily Tomlin's former flame, in Paul Weitz's film, Grandma. He played opposite Blythe Danner in the romance I'll See You in My Dreams, and had a role in the independent film Digging for Fire. In 2015, he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for best guest performer in a drama for his role in the FX Network's show Justified.

In 2015, it was confirmed that Elliot will appear in the new series of Netflix The Ranch along with Ashton Kutcher and Elisha Cuthbert.

Voice acting

Elliott has performed voice-over narration for various commercials. He has lent his voice to campaigns for Dodge, IBM, Kinney Drugs, Union Pacific, and, most notably, the American Beef Council, succeeding Robert Mitchum in the latter. Since late 2007, Elliott has done voice-overs for Coors beer, bringing his deep, rich voice and "western" appeal to the brand brewed in Colorado. In 2010, Ram Trucks hired Elliott to do the voice-over for their Ram Heavy Duty truck commercial; he has been voicing their commercials since. Starting in 2008, he has voiced Smokey Bear ("Only YOU can prevent wildfires"), and shares the mascot's birth date (August 9, 1944). For animated films, Elliott lent his voice to "Ben the Cow" in Barnyard, "Buster" (a.k.a. Chupadogra) in Marmaduke and Butch in The Good Dinosaur. He also narrated the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers team introductions to Super Bowl XLV—played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, at the conclusion of the 2010 NFL season—for Fox Sports.

Personal life

Elliott married actress Katharine Ross in 1984. Although Ross starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which Elliott had a very small role, the two did not meet and begin dating until 1978 when they both starred with Roger Daltrey in The Legacy. The couple have a daughter, Cleo Rose Elliott, born in 1984, who is now a musician in Malibu.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	Card Player #2
1970	The Games	Richie Robinson
1972	Frogs	Pickett Smith
1972	Molly and Lawless John	Johnny Lawler
1975	I Will Fight No More Forever	Captain Wood
1976	Lifeguard	Rick Carlson
1978	Legacy, TheThe Legacy	Pete Danner
1985	Mask	Gar
1986	Gone to Texas	Sam Houston
1986	Blue Lightning, TheThe Blue Lightning	Harry Wingate
1987	The Quick and the Dead	Con Vallian
1987	Fatal Beauty	Mike Marshak
1988	Shakedown	Richie Marks	Also titled "Blue Jean Cop"
1989	Road House	Wade Garrett
1989	Prancer	John Riggs
1990	Sibling Rivalry	Charles Turner Jr.
1991	Rush	Dodd
1993	Tombstone	Virgil Earp
1993	Gettysburg	Brigadier General John Buford
1995	The Final Cut	John Pierce
1995	The Desperate Trail	Bill Speakes
1996	Dog Watch	Charlie Falon
1996	Adventures of Mowgli	Kaa	English voice
1998	Big Lebowski, TheThe Big Lebowski	The Stranger
1998	Hi-Lo Country, TheThe Hi-Lo Country	Jim Ed Love
2000	Contender, TheThe Contender	Kermit Newman
2001	Pretty When You Cry	Detective Lukas Black
2002	We Were Soldiers	Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley
2003	Hulk	General Thadeus Ross
2003	Off the Map	Charley
2005	Thank You for Smoking	Lorne Lutch
2006	Barnyard	Ben the cow	Voice only
2006	Alibi, TheThe Alibi	The Mormon	Also titled "Lies and Alibis"
2007	Ghost Rider	The Caretaker / Carter Slade
2007	Golden Compass, TheThe Golden Compass	Lee Scoresby
2009	Did You Hear About the Morgans?	Clay Wheeler
2009	Up in the Air	Maynard Finch	COFCA Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated—WAFCA Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—DFCS Award for Best Ensemble
2010	Marmaduke	Chupadogra	Voice only
2011	Big Bang, TheThe Big Bang	Simon Kestral
2012	The Company You Keep	Mac McLeod
2014	Draft Day	Coach Moore
2015	I'll See You in My Dreams	Bill
2015	Grandma	Karl	Nominated—CFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor
2015	The Gettysburg Address	Ward Hill Lamon (voice)	Documentary (filming)
2015	The Good Dinosaur	Butch	Voice only
2016	Rock Dog	Fleetwood Yak	Voice only

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968-1969	Felony Squad	Numerous	3 episodes
1969	Land of the Giants	Martin Reed	Episode: "Six Hours to Live"
	The F.B.I.	SAC Kendall Lisbon)	Episode: "The Prey"
	Judd, for the Defense	Dan Kenyon	Episode: "The Crystal Maze"
1969-1970	Lancer	Renslo / Canopus / Cowboy	3 episodes
1970	Challenge, TheThe Challenge	Bryant	Television film
1970-1971	Mission: Impossible	Dr. Douglas Robert (Lang)	13 episodes
1971	Assault on the Wayne	Ensign William 'Bill' Sandover	TV movie
1972	Gunsmoke	Cory Soames	Episode: "The Wedding"
	Mod Squad, TheThe Mod Squad	Rick Price	Episode: "Good Times Are Just Memories"
	Molly and Lawless John	Johnny Lawler	TV movie
1973	Blue Knight, The	Detective Charlie Bronski	TV movie
	Mannix	Bill Saunders	Episode: "Little Girl Lost"
	Hawkins	Luther Wilkes	Episode: "Die Die, Darling"
1974	Doc Elliot	Lee Barrows	Episode: "A Time to Live"
	Hawaii Five-O	Jack Houston	Episode: "The Two-Faced Corpse"
	Evel Knievel	Evel Knievel	TV movie
	Manhunter, TheThe Manhunter	Will Gantry	Episode: "The Ma Gantry Gang"
	Streets of San Francisco, TheThe Streets of San Francisco	Ken Johnson	Episode: "The Hard Breed"
1975	Police Woman	Michael Gregory	Episode: "Farewell, Mary Jane"
1976-1977	Once an Eagle	Sam Damon	7 episodes (miniseries)
1977	Aspen	Tom Keating	TV movie
1979	Sacketts, TheThe Sacketts	Tell Sackett	TV movie
1980	Wild Times	Hugh Cardiff	2 episodes
1981	Murder in Texas	Dr. John Hill	TV movie
1982	Shadow Riders, TheThe Shadow Riders	Dal Traven	TV movie
1983	Yellow Rose, TheThe Yellow Rose	Chance McKenzie	22 episodes
	Travis McGee	Travis McGee	TV movie
1985	A Death in California	D. Jordan Williams	2 episodes (miniseries)
1986	Gone to Texas	Sam Houston	TV movie. Also titled "Houston: The Legend of Texas"
1987	Quick and the Dead, TheThe Quick and the Dead	Con Vallian	TV movie
1988	The World's Greatest Stunts: A Tribute to Hollywood Stuntmen	Himself	Documentary
1991	Conagher	Conn Conagher	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film He also produced and helped co-write the script.
1993	Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert	Lyn Cutter	TV movie
1993	The Making of "Gettysburg"	Himself/"Brig. Gen. John Buford, Federal"	Documentary (On the making of the film Gettysburg)
1995	The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky	Bill Bell	TV movie
	Buffalo Girls	Wild Bill Hickok	TV movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
	Blue River	Henry Howland	TV movie
	The Way West	Voice	Documentary
1996	Woman Undone	Ross Bishop	TV movie
1997	Rough Riders	Capt. Bucky O'Neill	TV movie
1997	Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western	Himself	Documentary
1998	Texarkana	N/A	TV movie
1999	You Know My Name	Bill Tilghman	TV movie
2000	Fail Safe	Congressman Raskob	TV movie
2001	The Contender: The Making of a Political Thriller	Himself	Documentary (short)
2002	We Were Soldiers: Getting It Right	Himself/Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley	Documentary (short)
2002	The Making of "Tombstone"	Himself/"Virgil Earp"	Documentary (short)
2003	Hulk: The Lowdown	Co-Host	Documentary
2004	Anatomy of a Scene	Himself	Documentary; episode: "Off the Map"
2006	Avenger	Calvin Dexter	TV movie
2010	November Christmas	Jess Sanford	TV movie
2012	Robot Chicken	White Wine Narrator/Commander Waspax/Reporter	Episode: "Hurtled from a Helicopter into a Speeding Train" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (for White Wine Narrator role)
2013-2015	Parks and Recreation	Ron Dunn	3 episodes
2015	Justified	Avery Markham	12 episodes Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series
2016	The Ranch	Beau Bennett	Main role
2016	Grace and Frankie	Phil	Main role

[ Source: Wikipedia ]