Biography for
Sam Waterston More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

15 November 1940, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Birth Name

Samuel Atkinson Waterston

Height

6' 1" (1.85 m)

Spouse

Lynn Louisa Woodruff	(26 January 1976 - present) 3 children
Barbara Rutledge-Johns	(28 December 1964 - 16 September 1975) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Frequently portrays Abraham Lincoln (3 times) and other Presidents of the United States.

Jack McCoy in three series and one TV movie of the Law & Order franchise, and Homicide: Life on the Street.

Trivia

Once lived in a house previously owned by New Yorker writer James Thurber.

Son of George Chychele Waterston aka G. Chychele Waterston or George C. Waterston (b. Leith, Scotland, 20 May 1904, d. Sharon, Connecticut, 13 May 1995), diplomat, linguist, and wife (m. Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, 6 July 1935) Alice Tucker Atkinson (b. Brookline, Massachusetts, 10 Dec 1905, d. Sharon, Connecticut, 29 Nov 1993), and maternal grandson of musician Robert Whitman Atkinson (b. Heath Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, 14 Dec 1868, d. Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, 21 Aug 1934), Harvard 1891, and wife (m. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 5 Mar 1904) Elizabeth Bispham Page (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 Mar 1875, d. Middleborough, Massachusetts, Jan 1962).

He attended Groton Prep School and then entered Yale University on a scholarship in 1958 where he studied French and History and graduated with a BA in 1962. He spent his junior year studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. After failing to quash the acting bug he studied at the American Actors Workshop in Paris. After leaving Yale he spent some months at the Clinton Playhouse. He lives in Connecticut with his wife.

Received honorary degree from Yale. [2001]

Forrest Bedford, Waterston's character on "I'll Fly Away" (1991), was ranked #17 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].

He received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from The University of the South on October 12, 2004

Is the official spokesperson for TD Waterhouse, the online investment company. He appears in all of their television commercials (2003/2004-?)

Was nominated for Broadway's 1994 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for playing Abraham Lincolnin a revival of Robert E. Sherwood's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois.".

#23 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100]

Appeared in episodes of four different series with Jerry Orbach: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).

Has appeared in episodes of three different television series with Jesse L. Martin: "Law & Order" (1990), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).

Has appeared in episodes of four different series with Richard Belzer: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).

Has the distinction of starring in two television series in which he played a prosecutor--D.A. Forrest Bedford in "I'll Fly Away" (1991) and Executive Assistant District Attorney/District Attorney Jack McCoy in "Law & Order" (1990).

He and Stockard Channing were in five films together: David's Mother (1994) (TV), The Room Upstairs (1987) (TV), Sweet Revenge (2002), The Matthew Shepard Story (2002) (TV) and Le divorce (2003). In the last two they played husband and wife.

Both he and his Rancho Deluxe (1975) and Heaven's Gate (1980) co-star Jeff Bridges were Oscar nominated for Best Actor in 1984, for The Killing Fields (1984) and Starman (1984) respectively.

Winner of the 2003 Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement, awarded annually by the Lincoln Forum.

Three of his children followed him into the show business industry: Elisabeth Waterston, Katherine Waterston, and James Waterston.

Voices the TV ad for "The Nation", a political commentary magazine with a progressive viewpoint. Included is the line "The Nation gives you that liberal media slant you can't get anywhere else".

Has a summer home in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts.

Was good friends with Bruce Lee.

Father in law of Louis Cancelmi.

Direct descendant of Richard Warren and wife Elizabeth Walker, Mayflower passengers.

Eight cousin three times removed of George Bush and four times removed of George W. Bush and eighth cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Father of 4 children: Elisabeth Waterston (born 1976), Katherine Waterston (born 1980) and Graham Waterston (born 1982) with his wife, Lynn Louisa Woodruff and James Waterston with his ex-wife, Barbara Rutledge-Johns.

He has played the same character (Jack McCoy) in four different series and one TV movie: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999), "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005), and Exiled (1998) (TV).

Has played five U.S. Presidents: Abraham Lincoln three times, "Lincoln" (1988), "The Civil War" (1990) (voice only), and "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" on Broadway (1994); Thomas Jefferson (voice only) in "Thomas Jefferson" (1997); fictional President William Foster in The Enemy Within (1994) (TV); Theodore Roosevelt in _Freedom to Speak (TV mini-series) (1982)_; and the unnamed fictional President in Shadow Conspiracy (1997).

He appeared in 368 episodes of "Law & Order" (1990), more than anyone else other than S. Epatha Merkerson.

Personal Quotes

[on lawyers] It's more fun to play one than to be one.

I came to New York in 1962 and it began to look like I might be able to make a living in 1972.

My father said 'Success is like smoking. It's wonderful if you don't inhale'. That was his own aphorism and I think it's the very best thing he could have said to me or anyone else on the subject.

If I have to be typecast, I'd like it to be Abraham Lincoln.

The truth is that, at any time in this business, you could fall off the end of the world.