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Photos provided by publishers of "Two Prospectors," a book of letters between Sam Shepard and John Dark, recently released in paperback
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Photos provided by publishers of "Two Prospectors," a book of letters between Sam Shepard and John Dark, recently released in paperback
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Photos provided by publishers of "Two Prospectors," a book of letters between Sam Shepard and John Dark, recently released in paperback
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Photos provided by publishers of "Two Prospectors," a book of letters between Sam Shepard and John Dark, recently released in paperback
When beloved writer and actor Sam Shepard passed away at his Midway-area farm this summer from complications stemming from ALS, Kentucky certainly felt the sting. Particularly later in his life, Shepard – whose acting career spanned nearly 50 years and included more than 40 movies and television shows – spent a good deal of time in the commonwealth state, where he kept horses and maintained a relatively low profile as a “small-town local,” frequenting central Kentucky restaurants and other local businesses when in town.
Described by the New York Times as “the greatest American playwright of his generation,” Shepard, in addition to his acting, screenwriting and playwriting careers, also authored several books of short stories and essays, including the 2016 novel “The One Inside,” which reads much like a memoir. His penchant for the written word comes through in a different way in “Two Prospectors,” a book of letters between him and his good friend John Dark released by the University of Texas at Austin in 2013. Story has it that the longtime friends met in 1967 when Dark approached Shepard to ask him what drug he was on when he wrote his play “Forensic and the Navigators.” Shepard later married Dark’s stepdaughter O-lan, and even after the couple separated (and Shepard ran off with actress and longtime partner Jessica Lange), he and Dark remained great friends. The book chronicles over 30 years of the men’s friendship, touching on a wide array of subjects – from travels and day-to-day life occurrences to depression, infidelity and family life – in an intimate, conversational cadence.
Released in hardcover in 2013, the paperback edition of the book came out in March of this year. We’ve published some excerpts and photos from the book below.
This year’s seventh annual Harry Dean Stanton Festival, taking place in Lexington Sept. 28-30, will pay homage to Shepard with screenings of the films “Paris, Texas” and “Fool for Love,” both written or co-written by Shepard and based on his plays (the actor also co-stars in the latter, alongside Kim Basinger). See the festivals’s entry in our Fall Arts Preview for more details.
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