- Born
- Birth nameSamuel Atkinson Waterston
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Sam Waterston was born on November 15, 1940 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Killing Fields (1984), The Great Gatsby (1974) and Serial Mom (1994). He has been married to Lynn Louisa Woodruff since January 26, 1976. They have three children. He was previously married to Barbara Rutledge Johns.
- SpousesLynn Louisa Woodruff(January 26, 1976 - present) (3 children)Barbara Rutledge Johns(December 28, 1964 - September 16, 1975) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsAlice Tucker Atkinson (Brookline)George Chychele Waterston
- Frequently portrays Abraham Lincoln (three times) and other Presidents of the United States
- Jack McCoy in the Law & Order (1990) franchise and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993).
- Was good friends with Bruce Lee.
- He has appeared in 368 episodes of Law & Order (1990), more than anyone other than S. Epatha Merkerson.
- Direct descendant of Richard Warren and wife Elizabeth Walker, Mayflower passengers.
- He 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); Theodore Roosevelt in Freedom to Speak (1983); and the unnamed fictional President in Shadow Conspiracy (1997).
- All four of his children followed him into the show business industry: Elisabeth Waterston, Katherine Waterston and James Waterston are actors, and Graham Waterston is a writer/director.
- [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.
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