Of all the actors, one of our favorites to report on is the legendary, Sam Elliott. He’s tall and thin and the classic picture of the American cowboy. Elliott began his acting career on the stage and his film debut was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. As fans, there are a lot of questions we’d love to ask Sam Elliott. We put together a list of the best interview questions and answers we could find. From his voice to Cher and his favorite movies Sam Elliott answers all the questions a fan would want to know.
Question: What led you down the path of being an actor in the first place?
Answer: Going to too many movies when I was growing up, basically. I just got fascinated by it early on. And it wasn’t like I wanted to be a legitimate actor, a real actor. I wanted to make movies. Consequently, I didn’t study, really. I did some. I did a lot of stuff all the way through school. But I just got bit by wanting to do films, and I had tunnel vision about it. But I had a lot of encouragement from different drama coaches along the way, and my mom was a big supporter. My dad thought I was fucking crazy. [Laughs.]
Question: Is there a movie you’ve starred in that you wished more people knew you for?
Answer: No. I’ve done films over the years that basically no one saw. And I’m thankful that some of them haven’t been seen. But I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been in a lot of films that a lot of people saw. It’s not about legacy for me. It’s about the people I’m working with at the time, and just going in and enjoying the process. It’s hard work, but it’s a creative, artistic process. And if you can’t enjoy that, then you’re going about it wrong.
Question: Which westerns have been your favorites?
Answer: The Searchers would be up there. Red River. Shane. There was a particular time in Hollywood where the western was the bread and butter for everybody in town. In the early days, there was a bunch of really good western actors that were all you needed to make a good western. There were horses all around town. And wagons. And now all that stuff has moved on. Most of that stuff can only be found today in Texas, or New Mexico. It’s just a whole industry that’s disappeared. There’s a simplicity to that form that has always spoken to me. There’s a pretty well-defined morality to the characters: the good, the bad … not a lot of gray area. It’s either one or the other in the stuff that’s spoken to me.
