Actor Sam Elliott Talks About Male Role Models Who Shaped His Life

Jul 09, 2021

In a June 2017 interview with “Off Camera” host Sam Jones, award-winning actor Sam Elliott opens up about where and how he learned to be a man. Given his career, which has seen the 79-year-old actor play cowboys, civil war generals and soldiers, it seems like a fitting question for Elliott. But when Jones thinks of his male role models, he doesn’t name anyone like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. Rather, he thinks of his father, Henry Nelson Elliott, who worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento, California.

Samuel Pack Elliott was born on Aug. 9, 1944 in Sacramento to Glynn Mamie, a high school teacher, and Henry Elliott. While Sam spent the early years of his life in California’s capital city, he moved with his family to Portland, Oregon when he was in his teens. After graduating high school in Oregon, Sam bounced around before finding his calling. He enrolled at the University of Oregon, only to drop out two semesters later.

Eventually, however, he returned to college and began to act. Following his father’s death at the age of 54, Sam began his acting career in earnest, earning his first role on TV in the legal drama “Judd for the Defense.” From then on, Sam was often cast in westerns thanks to his appearance and deep voice. Since his early roles in westerns like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids,” “Felony Squad,” “Gunsmoke” and “Lancer,” Sam has become one of Hollywood’s go-to cowboys. In one of his most well-reviewed roles to date, he starred alongside Bradley Cooper in the 2018 film “A Star Is Born.”

If Sam picked up his work ethic anywhere — and it’s clear he has a good one given his long, prolific career — it’s likely from his father. In his June 2017 interview on “Off Camera,” the host asks Sam what his definition of a man is.

“I can only speak of the men that were in my life,” Sam responds. “And that was my dad and his friends. Those are the men that I grew up going fishing and, you know, spending time with. And they were all pretty hardcore. They were gentlemen. I mean, they weren’t a**holes. They were nice men. But they were hardcore. They were hardworking men.”

“(My dad) died at 54 years old. Had a heart attack. Boom, gone. Died in my mom’s arms on our living room floor in Portland, Oregon,” Sam adds. “And my dad died thinking I was a total idiot for wanting to be an actor. He said, ‘You got a snowball’s chance in hell of having a … career in that tomb.’”

Sam explained, however, that his dad’s lack of enthusiasm regarding his acting ambitions motivated him to succeed.

“I never thought about it as having a need to prove something other than I wanted him to be proud of me,” Sam explains. “That’s the worst part of it. When you don’t think your dad is proud of you … I knew that he was (proud) in other areas. He knew I could catch more trout than he or any of his friends. He was proud of that.”

Considering where Sam’s career is today, it’s safe to say that his dad would probably be proud. In a role that was almost too perfect for Sam, the actor played a prominent actor, known for westerns, whose best days are behind him in “The Hero.” While the film flew under the radar and wasn’t a major blockbuster, it earned Sam considerable praise from critics. 

“The Hero is a minor film. It ticks off too many obvious milestones — Lee’s diagnosis, his viral moment, his unlikely romance, his attempts to reconcile with his family — but it goes down (dare I say) smoothly. Haley gave Elliott the gift of this career-defining role and Elliott returns the favor by giving a career-best performance,” Max Weiss wrote in her review of the film for Baltimore Magazine. 

Sam also earned his first Oscar nomination for his supporting role in “A Star Is Born.” Asked why he thinks that film resonated with so many, Sam said,  “I just think it has a number of universal themes that a lot of people can tap into. The music’s one thing, that stands alone on some level, but it’s also an intricate part of the story. The love story, the love and loss. Then beyond that, it’s the addiction theme. I don’t know anybody that hasn’t had some connection, either directly or indirectly, someone in their family, or someone they love, with alcoholism or addiction. It’s just one one of the things we live with today. I think the combination of all those factors is what people have responded to.”

With an Academy Award nomination and tons of praise from fans and critics alike, hopefully Sam can rest easy that he would have made dad proud.

What do you think of Sam Elliott’s father? What’s your definition of a man? Let us know — and be sure to pass this story on to friends and family members.