Sam Shepard (born Samuel Shepard Rogers III; November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, author, and director. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for Buried Child and is widely considered one of the most important voices in American theatre. His plays are marked by mythic images of the American West, family dysfunction, and the collapse of the American Dream. He wrote more than 55 plays and received the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.