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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
November 15, 1940
Place of Birth
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Also Known As
- Samuel Atkinson Waterston
Sam Waterston
1.5 Popularity
Biography
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy on the NBC television series Law & Order. He has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild-, BAFTA- and Emmy Awards, having starred in over eighty film and television productions during his forty-five year career. Allmovie has characterised Waterston as having "cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid performances." Description above from the Wikipedia article Sam Waterston, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
0.0
Carousel
2026
7.5
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Six Triple Eight
2024
7.7
Self
Merchant Ivory
2024
0.0
Self
A Case for Love
2024
7.7
Self
Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled
2023
7.3
George Shultz
The Dropout
2022
6.8
Self (voice)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
2021
4.8
Headmaster Waldorf
The Man in the Woods
2020
0.0
Self
Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story
2020
7.3
Erwin Griswold
On the Basis of Sex
2018
Credits
Carousel
2026
0.0
The Six Triple Eight
as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
2024
7.5
Merchant Ivory
as Self
2024
7.7
A Case for Love
as Self
2024
0.0
Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled
as Self
2023
7.7
The Dropout
as George Shultz
2022
7.3
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
as Self (voice)
2021
6.8
The Man in the Woods
as Headmaster Waldorf
2020
4.8
Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story
as Self
2020
0.0
On the Basis of Sex
as Erwin Griswold
2018
7.3
The Mayo Clinic
as Charlie Mayo (voice)
2018
7.0
Jane Fonda in Five Acts
as Self - (archive footage)
2018
7.3
Godless
as Marshall John Cook
2017
7.7
Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators
as Narrator (voice)
2017
7.3
Dateline: Saigon
as Narrator (voice)
2017
8.0
Miss Sloane
as George Dupont
2016
7.4
Anesthesia
as Prof. Walter Zarrow
2016
5.7
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self
2015
6.2
And It Was Good
as Judge Alexander Baas / Doctor / Gravedigger
2015
0.0
Grace and Frankie
as Sol Bergstein
2015
7.7
Dean Smith
as Narrator
2015
6.0
Please Be Normal
as Dad
2015
3.3
Jo
2013
6.3
The Newsroom
as Charlie Skinner
2012
8.1
Prohibition
as Reader (voice)
2011
7.9
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
as Self
2010
5.9
Masters of Science Fiction
2007
6.2
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
as John Honeyman (segment "A Walk in the Woods")
2006
0.0
The Colbert Report
2005
6.9
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
as Jack McCoy
2005
8.1
Hammer and Cycle
as Self - Narrator
2004
0.0
The Commission
as J. Lee Rankin
2003
1.0
Le Divorce
as Chester Walker
2003
5.0
The Matthew Shepard Story
as Dennis Shepard
2002
5.4
A House Divided
as David Dickson
2000
5.0
The Unfinished Journey
as Narrator (voice)
1999
6.0
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
as Jack McCoy
1999
7.9
In Bad Taste
as Self
1999
8.0
Law and Order: Justice
as Jack McCoy
1999
0.0
Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs
as Self / Host / Narrator
1999
0.0
Here Am I, Send Me: The Story of Jonathan Daniels
as Narrator
1999
0.0
Family Guy
as Bruce Kaplan (voice)
1999
7.4
Exiled
as Jack McCoy
1998
5.8
Miracle at Midnight
as Dr. Karl Koster
1998
7.3
Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
as Thomas Jefferson (voice)
1997
7.5
The View
as Self
1997
4.3
The View
as Self - Guest
1997
4.3
Thomas Jefferson
as Thomas Jefferson (voice)
1997
8.0
Shadow Conspiracy
as The President
1997
5.0
The Proprietor
as Harry Bancroft
1996
6.0
Nixon
as Richard Helms
1995
6.9
The Journey of August King
as Mooney Wright
1995
6.7
Amazing Stories: The Movie IV
as (archive footage)
1995
0.0
Time Life's Lost Civilizations
as Narrator
1995
6.0
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
as Tom Wingfield (archive footage)
1994
0.0
The Enemy Within
as President William Foster
1994
5.7
Serial Mom
as Eugene Sutphin
1994
6.7
David's Mother
as John Nils
1994
8.1
Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker
as Daniel Chamberlain
1994
6.2
🎬
I'll Fly Away: Then and Now
as Forrest Bedford
1993
8.0
Homicide: Life on the Street
as Jack McCoy
1993
8.1
Earth and the American Dream
as Reader (voice)
1992
6.7
HBO First Look
1992
4.9
Mindwalk
as Jack Edwards
1991
6.8
I'll Fly Away
as Forrest Bedford
1991
7.4
The Man in the Moon
as Matthew Trant
1991
7.3
The Civil War
as Abraham Lincoln
1990
7.9
Law & Order
as Jack McCoy
1990
7.4
Night of 100 Stars III
as Self
1990
4.0
A Captive in the Land
as Royce
1990
5.0
The Nightmare Years
as Bill Shirer
1989
5.0
Crimes and Misdemeanors
as Ben
1989
7.4
Welcome Home
as Woody
1989
5.6
Lantern Hill
as Andrew Stuart
1989
8.0
Tales from the Crypt
as G.G. Devoe (segment "As Ye Sow")
1989
8.0
Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami
as Jim Delmore
1988
6.0
Lincoln
as Abraham Lincoln
1988
7.2
A Walk in the Woods
as John Honeyman
1988
0.0
September
as Peter
1987
6.1
Devil's Paradise
as Jones
1987
3.5
Swimming to Cambodia
as Additional cast from 'The Killing Fields' (archive footage)
1987
6.9
The Room Upstairs
as Travis Coles
1987
4.2
Flagrant désir
as Inspecteur Gerry Morrison
1986
4.7
Just Between Friends
as Harry Crandall
1986
4.9
The Fifth Missile
as Capt. Allard Renslow
1986
4.8
Hannah and Her Sisters
as David (uncredited)
1986
7.5
Amazing Stories
as Jordan Manmouth
1985
7.4
Warning Sign
as Cal Morse
1985
6.0
Love Lives On
as Bernie
1985
8.0
Finnegan Begin Again
as Paul Broadbent
1985
6.3
The Killing Fields
as Sydney Schanberg
1984
7.5
The Boy Who Loved Trolls
as Ofoeti
1984
1.0
Jeopardy!
as Self
1984
6.9
Dempsey
as Doc Kearns
1983
6.0
In Defense of Kids
as Paul Wilcox
1983
5.0
Games Mother Never Taught You
as David Bentells
1982
0.0
Q.E.D.
1982
6.8
Heaven's Gate
as Frank Canton
1980
6.7
Friendly Fire
as C.D.B. Bryan
1980
7.5
Oppenheimer
as Robert Oppenheimer
1980
6.5
Hopscotch
as Jack Cutter
1980
7.0
Sweet William
as William McClusky
1980
3.3
Eagle's Wing
as White Bull
1979
5.2
Interiors
as Mike
1978
6.8
Capricorn One
as Lt. Col. Peter Willis
1977
6.8
Sweet Revenge
as Le Clerq
1976
5.4
Saturday Night Live
as Self - Cameo (uncredited)
1975
7.0
Journey into Fear
as Mr. Graham
1975
5.6
Rancho Deluxe
as Cecil Colson
1975
5.3
People's Choice Awards
as Self - Presenter
1975
9.0
Reflections of Murder
as Michael Elliott
1974
6.3
The Great Gatsby
as Nick Carraway
1974
6.3
The Glass Menagerie
as Tom Wingfield
1973
7.6
Much Ado About Nothing
as Benedick
1973
5.0
Mahoney's Last Stand
as Felix
1972
5.4
Savages
as James, the Limping Man
1972
5.1
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
as Alex Monte
1971
4.0
Cover Me Babe
as Cameraman
1970
4.2
Three
as Taylor
1969
4.7
Generation
as Desmond
1969
4.5
Fitzwilly
as Oliver
1967
6.0
The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean
as Andy
1966
7.7
Dr. Kildare
as Mark
1961
5.5
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Travis Coles
1951
8.6
Rain Falls from Earth: Surviving Cambodia's Darkest Hour
as Self (voice)
N/A
0.0