The Transformation Of Sam Elliott: From '70s Heartthrob To Landman Icon

Most people know Sam Elliott as the stoic, and often wise, cowboy archetype. His characters always seem to know when to speak and when to stay quiet, so when he actually talks, everyone listens. It doesn't hurt that his voice fits that image as well. Elliott's smoky way of talking is so iconic that Bradley Cooper sought to imitate it for his directorial debut in "A Star Is Born," which inspired a plot point in the film. After working with a voice coach to create Elliot's sound, Cooper had to convince Elliott to play his older brother in the movie. In an interview with USA Today, Elliott said, "It was weird" to hear Cooper imitating his voice so well, but it convinced him to join the project.

Elliott has been acting professionally since the 1970s. He's played many types of people, from a sketchy bouncer to a hippie working in local government. Most recently, the actor has cemented himself in the Taylor Sheridan TV universe, playing T.L. Norris, the estranged father of Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris, in the hit series "Landman." To be honest, Sam Elliott is kind of sexy at any age, but let's take a look at how he went from a heartthrob playing a lifeguard to his iconic role in "Landman."

Born in 1944 in Sacramento, California, Sam Elliott had an interesting path to becoming a Hollywood legend. His parents were both originally from Texas, where the family had gone back for generations. His father worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Elliott wanted to act after watching classic movies like "Creature from the Black Lagoon." As a child, he performed in plays and sang at his local church. The family lived in California until Elliott was a teenager, before they moved to Oregon, where Elliott tried to focus on excelling in academics. However, Elliott admitted to an Oregon newspaper during a 2017 interview that he never became "academically inclined."

Although Elliott knew he wanted to act, he first attended college at the guidance of his father. Elliott's father didn't think acting was a good career plan. "He gave me that proverbial line, 'You've got a snowball's chance in hell of having a career in (Hollywood)," Elliott told The Register-Guard. "He was a realist, my dad. He was a hard worker. He had a work ethic that I've fashioned mine after, and I thank him for that every day." Elliott ended up with a two-year degree before he decided he had had enough of higher education.

From the beginning of Sam Elliott's on-screen career, he positioned himself as a character actor. His roles may not have been the starring ones, but he always played interesting characters that stood out in the story. In Elliott's first credited film role, he appeared as Card Player #2 in the classic film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," starring the legendary actors Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Although he's only in the film briefly, Elliott's presence made a mark, even though he was without his signature mustache.

One of his earliest recurring television roles was on the original "Mission: Impossible" series, where he appeared in 13 episodes. Elliott didn't limit himself to the type of roles he took. He had many single-episode roles on hit television shows in the 1970s, such as "The Mod Squad," "Gunsmoke," and "Hawaii Five-0." In a failed sitcom series, Elliott played the leading role of a fictionalized version of the famous stuntman Evel Knievel. It may have been an interesting concept, but better roles awaited Elliott.

In 1976, Sam Elliott starred in the feature film "Lifeguard," where he played a full-time lifeguard in his 30s. It marked Elliott's first leading role in a movie by a major production company. Elliott liked the dramatic role, once saying he felt a personal connection to the character, and thought it would catapult his career. At the time of the film's release, Elliott had been acting for years and was sure it would change his life overnight. Although it did help him, the movie was often advertised as a romance rather than a drama, confusing the target audience and leading to praise from critics but not huge name recognition for Elliott.

After "Lifeguard," Elliott got several lead roles in several television mini-series, like "Once an Eagle" and "Aspen." During the early 1980s, Elliott played one of the main characters on an NBC modern western soap opera called "The Yellow Rose." The series was short-lived, but dramatic family dynamics seem now like a precursor for shows like "Yellowstone." Throughout the 1980s, Elliott's acting credits swelled, but it wouldn't be until the 1990s that he began to get recognized for his great acting.

Sam Elliott's career got a huge resurgence in 1993 with the release of the Western classic, "Tombstone." The film had a stacked cast including Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, and Val Kilmer. Elliott played Virgil Earp, the eldest brother of famed lawman Wyatt Earp (Russell). Elliott credited the fantastic script and talented cast for the success of the movie, telling Entertainment Weekly, "That's what made that take of the O.K. Corral the best of all of them, I think ... It just had all the elements to make a great Western." It may not have been the first time Elliott played a cowboy, but "Tombstone" cemented his legacy as a Western drama star in both film and television.

A few years after "Tombstone," Elliott played the Stranger in the beloved film "The Big Lebowski," where he narrated and appeared at the end as a cowboy in a bowling alley. Elliott has over 100 acting credits, and in close to 30 of them, he played a cowboy-type character. In many ways, Elliott has become so closely associated with Westerns that he is often asked his opinion on other Western films. One such event caused a little bit of drama between Sam Elliott and Benedict Cumberbatch over Elliott's comments about Cumberbatch's 2021 Western, "The Power of the Dog." He may play different characters from time to time, but Elliott will forever be known as a cowboy. Something about Elliott's tall, lanky frame, stoic attitude, and quiet masculinity perfectly fit the audience's ideal Western hero.

Sam Elliott once told Playgirl that he didn't want to be known as a sex symbol because it came with baggage, so he just wanted to be known as himself. Despite that plea, Elliott did become known as a sex symbol. The tagline for the film "Lifeguard," starring Elliott as the titular character, was "Every girl's summer dream." As the often shirtless lifeguard with a chest full of hair and an amazing mustache, Elliott was well on his way to being a sex symbol. During the late 1970s and 1980s, Elliott kept the audience's eyes on him when he played a cowboy with another hunky icon of the time, Tom Selleck, in several Western dramas based on books by famed author Louis L'Amour.

In 1985, Elliott starred alongside Cher in the movie "Mask." Wearing a shirt that said "Mustache Rides," Elliott was the mustachioed biker boyfriend of Cher. To be believable as Cher's boyfriend, Elliott would have to be a sex symbol. A few years later, Elliott played a key character in the classic 1980s film, "Road House." The star of the movie was Patrick Swayze as James Dalton, a bouncer having a rough time at his new job. He calls in reinforcements in the form of his old mentor, Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott). At the time, Patrick Swayze was arguably one of the biggest sex symbols in Hollywood, yet Elliott's charm makes his character seem even more enticing than Swayze's.

Sam Elliott's voice is deep, rugged, and full. It's unique timber, along with Elliott's cadence of talking, makes his voice perfect for acting and voiceovers. Most of his role in "The Big Lebowski" is the voiceover narration, yet people watching almost instinctively knew it was Elliott when he finally appeared on the screen. He's done a few animated voice roles, such as playing the dog Trusty in the 2019 CGI remake of Disney's "Lady and the Tramp." Elliott also does the voice work for two very well-known ad campaigns: Beef and Smokey the Bear. From the 1990s to the early 2000s, Elliott's rich voice could be heard in various advertisements that listed different ways to prepare beef and featured the iconic tagline, "Beef, it's what's for dinner." From 2008 to 2023, Elliott also voiced Smokey the Bear in the PSAs telling everyone, "Only you can prevent wildfires."

Interestingly, for as much as Elliott's voice has helped add to his fame, he was once told to change it. In a 2018 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Elliott spoke about getting advice early in his career. According to Elliott, an agent once told him, "If you're going to stay in this town, you've got to fix that [bleeped] voice. You've got to take some voice and diction lessons, and get rid of that southern accent." Elliott, along with his fans, is probably glad he didn't take that advice.

When fans think of Sam Elliott, they most likely picture a stoic and wise man who fits perfectly into a Western drama. However, using his signature timing and voice, Elliott showed how he can easily play what he's known for for laughs instead. From 2013 to 2015, Elliott appeared in three episodes of the NBC workplace comedy "Parks and Recreation." Chris Pratt may have thought the now-iconic sitcom would be canceled after one episode, but we're so glad it wasn't, given what the show went on to produce. Elliott's character first appeared in the Season 6 episode "Doppelgängers," where the beloved people of Pawnee had to merge governments with their rival city, Eagleton. As the departments came together, everyone met their counterparts from Eagleton.

The fan-favorite character Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman, met his match in Sam Elliott's character, Ron Dunn. At first, the two men seem to have a lot in common; they both appear traditionally masculine and love the outdoors. Ron Swanson is soon horrified to find out that the other Ron is a hippie. Ron Dunn doesn't eat meat, enjoys Yoga, and is very spiritual. He's basically the opposite of Ron Swanson. Although the character may seem very different from Elliott's normal roles, he played it so perfectly that it is surprising that he hasn't played more comedy parts.

Although Sam Elliott had a long, storied career, his roles had gone mostly unrecognized by the award committees. His role in Bradley Cooper's 2018 remake "A Star is Born" finally earned Elliott recognition for his amazing performance. In "A Star Is Born," Elliott played the older brother and manager, Bobby Maine, of rock star Jackson "Jack" Maine (Cooper). Bobby may be Jackson's brother, but he served more as a father figure to the musician. After Jackson's stint in rehab, he tells Bobby that he wanted to be like him, not their father — like Bobby always thought. In the scene, Bobby pulls away from his brother with tears in his eyes, a moment that Elliott said was completely unscripted. "That was the first take. It's one of those wonderful moments that you get to have, or you don't," Elliot told Yahoo! Entertainment. "There were a lot of those moments in this piece, and it's because of Bradley's ability to create that environment and give you the chance to get at that truth. He's a wonderful director."

The truth about "A Star Is Born" is that it marked a high point in the careers of everyone who worked on the film. Elliott himself received multiple award nominations for the movie, including an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. When Deadline asked how he felt about the honor, Elliott joked, "I think the thing off the top of my head might be, 'It's about [bleeping] time.'"

With the success of the show "Yellowstone," creator Taylor Sheridan was given the green light to make offshoots of the series, including "1883," starring Sam Elliott. In the miniseries, Elliott played Shea Brennan, a former Union officer who fought in the Civil War and led the Dutton family out west. Fans might be surprised who the "1883" cast's actual partners are, including Elliott, who has been married to his wife, actress Katharine Ross, since 1984. Elliott told the Associated Press that filming the series was great, but came with its own set of challenges, such as being away from family — specifically the long distance from his wife. He did get to keep the badge from the show, saying, "The prop man gave it to me on the last day. I was wearing my own spurs."

Not long after "1883," Sheridan convinced Elliott to join another one of his shows, "Landman." Elliott appeared during the second season to play the father of Billy Bob Thornton's character, Tommy Norris. "Landman" costars Billy Bob Thornton and Sam Elliott's real-life relationship is interesting, especially because this is the second time they've worked together (the pair previously acted alongside each other in 1993's "Tombstone"). As Thomas "T.L." Norris, Elliott begins as a physically frail man who feels lost. However, he finds new energy and a renewed relationship with his son. Elliott said he related to T.L., "I've had a hard life," he told Variety. "I've been an athlete all my life, and I've been a laborer all my life, and I'm paying for it now."

In 2023, after filming "1883," Sam Elliott told the Associated Press: "I know that at this point in my life, there's not going to be a better one that's going to come along than this. I feel like on some level, if I quit right now, I will have done what I set out to do when I was 9 years old, wanting to be an actor. I'm spoiled." For his work on "1883," Elliott won the Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series. The cast of "Landman" was also nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, showing that Elliott's acting just keeps getting better with age.

He may be in his 80s, but Elliott doesn't seem to be stepping away from the camera just yet. In the past, actors may have retired from acting, but now stars are still rocking it on red carpets in their 70s and beyond. Elliott's longevity in the business has made him an icon to many, but the humble actor doesn't see it that way. As he said to Variety, "[At an event at The Directors Guild] they were talking about me being iconic. What I feel like is that I'm just old and I'm still lucky to be working."