Sam Waterston

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an Oscar nominated American actor noted particularly for his portrayal of Jack McCoy on the long-running NBC television series Law & Order. He has also performed in many feature films.

He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to George Chychele Waterston (an English immigrant) and Alice Tucker Atkinson (an American Mayflower descendant). Waterston attended both the Brooks School, a boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts, and the Groton School. He entered Yale University on a scholarship in 1958 and graduated with a BA in 1962. He also received an honorary degree in 2001. On January 26, 1976, he married former model, Lynn Louisa Woodruff, (born May 1948). They have 3 children: Elisabeth (born March 30, 1977), Katherine (born March 3, 1980) and Graham (born April 29, 1983).

After graduating from Yale, he attended the Clinton Playhouse for several months. Waterston also attended the Sorbonne in Paris and the American Actors Workshop.

His first film was Fitzwilly in 1967. Other films include Savages (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), Journey Into Fear (1975), Capricorn One (1978), Heaven's Gate and Hopscotch (1980), The Killing Fields (1984, nominated Academy Award for Best Actor), Mindwalk (1990), Serial Mom (1994) and Woody Allen's Interiors (1978), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, cameo), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989).

Waterston is a six time Emmy Award nominee, winner of the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Aside from Law & Order, he has played other television roles including D.A. Forrest Bedford in I'll Fly Away. He also had a starring role in an episode segment on the TV series Amazing Stories called "Mirror Mirror".

He is also on the Advisory Committee for the Lincoln Bicentennial, celebrating Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. Waterston has portrayed Lincoln on stage and screen (The Civil War, Gore Vidal's Lincoln, Abe Lincoln in Illinois on Broadway, and also voiced Lincoln at an exhibit at the Philadelphia Constitution Center.)

An active humanitarian, Waterston also donates considerable time to organizations such as Refugees International, Meals on Wheels, The United Way, and The Episcopal Actors' Guild of America. Waterston narrated the 1999 biographical documentary of Episcopal Civil Rights Martyr Jonathan Myrick Daniels, "Here Am I, Send Me."

A political independent, he has recently endorsed the Unity08 movement, which seeks to run a non-partisan candidate in the 2008 U.S Presidential Election. [1]

He currently resides in Connecticut with his wife, Lynn, and four children, Elisabeth, Katherine, Graham, and James. Elisabeth and James Waterston have both pursued acting careers. In October of 2006, Elisabeth married actor Louis Cancelmi, who is the brother of former Law & Order star Annie Parisse at the Waterston home in Connecticut.

[edit] Filmography

• Beowulf (2006) - Narrator
• The Commission (2003) - J. Lee Rankin
• Le Divorce (2003) - Chester Walker
• Shadow Conspiracy (1997) - The President
• The Proprietor (1996) - Harry Bancroft
• Nixon (1995) - Richard Helms (scenes deleted)
• The Journey of August King (1995) - Mooney Wright, Producer
• Serial Mom (1994) - Eugene Sutphin, D.D.S.
• The Man in the Moon (1991) - Matthew Trant
• Mindwalk (1990) - Jack Edwards
• A Captive in the Land (1990) - Royce
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Ben
• Welcome Home (1989) - Woody
• September (1987) - Peter
• Devil's Paradise (1987) - Mr. Jones
• Flagrant désir (1986) - Gerry Morrison
• Just Between Friends (1986) - Harry Crandall
• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) - David (cameo)
• Warning Sign (1985) - Cal Morse
• The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984) - Ofoeti
• The Killing Fields (1984) - Sydney Schanberg
• Q.E.D. (1982) Professor Quentin Everett Deverill
• Heaven's Gate (1980) - Frank Canton
• Hopscotch (1980) - Joe Cutter
• Sweet William (1980) - William
• Eagle's Wing (1979) - White Bull
• Interiors (1978) - Mike
• Capricorn One (1978) - Lt. Col. Peter Willis
• Sweet Revenge (1976) - Le Clerq
• Journey Into Fear (1975) - Mr. Graham
• Rancho Deluxe (1975) - Cecil Colson
• The Great Gatsby (1974) - Nick Carraway
• Savages (1972) - James, the Limping Man
• Mahoney's Estate (1972) - Felix
• Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? (1971) - Alex
• Cover Me Babe (1970) - Cameraman
• Three (1969) - Taylor
• Generation (1969) - Desmond
• Fitzwilly (1967) - Oliver
• The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1965) - Andy

[edit] Trivia

• He has appeared in episodes of four different series with Richard Belzer: Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Trial by Jury.

• He also made a popular cameo appearance on an episode of Saturday Night Live as himself, extolling the virtues of Old Glory Insurance, meant to protect the user from robot attacks.

• He lent his voice to the popular animated television series Family Guy where he played Dr. Kaplan, the psychiatrist Brian Griffin consulted during his midlife crisis in the episode "Brian in Love". His character, Dr. Kaplan, was modeled to look like Waterston. He was Dr. Kaplan's voice in the episode "Road to Rhode Island", but he is not credited in any other episode in which the character appears.

• In 2002, Waterston and fellow Law & Order castmate Jerry Orbach were honored as "Living Landmarks" by the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

• Waterston starred with Katharine Hepburn in a 1973 TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. The film also featured Michael Moriarty. Coincidentally, Waterston replaced Moriarty as the Executive Assistant District Attorney many years later on Law & Order.

• Waterston hosted a series of shorts that appeared during commercial breaks entitled "Timelab 2000" for the History Channel circa 2000.

• Waterston is regularly featured in television advertisements for Toronto-Dominion Bank's TD Ameritrade (formerly TD Waterhouse, the bank's investment arm). He replaced former L&O castmate Steven Hill as TD's spokesman.

• Waterston's voice can also be heard in a commercial promoting readership of The Nation, a popular American liberal news outlet.

• Waterston hosted the PBS television show Art:21.

• Waterston also narrated NBC's documentary, The Great Race, the story of the famous 4 x 10-kilometer cross-country relay at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The special aired during NBC's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, on February 18, the day before the 2006 relay took place.

• Waterston also added partial narration to PBS's documentary, "Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery", serving as the voice of Thomas Jefferson.

• Waterston appeared on the 5,100th edition of Jeopardy, on November 10, 2006, with Law and Order siblings Kathryn Erbe and Christopher Meloni. Waterston finished second to Meloni, and received a $25,000 prize, which he donated to Refugees International & Oceana.

[edit] External links

• Sam Waterston at the Internet Movie Database
• Waterston's profile at the official Law & Order website