Sam Waterston Net Worth

Sam Waterston's 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.

Interesting Facts about Sam Waterston

1. Once lived in a house previously owned by New Yorker writer James Thurber.
2. Sam's parents married on July 6, 1935 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Sam's father, George Chychele Waterston, aka G. Chychele Waterston or George C. Waterston (b. Leith, Scotland, 20 May 1904, d. Sharon, Connecticut, 13 May 1995), was a diplomat and linguist. He was an immigrant, whose own father, George Waterston, was Scottish (from Midlothian), and whose own mother, Ellen Louise Giles, was English (from Middlesex). Sam's mother, Alice Tucker Atkinson (b. Brookline, Massachusetts, 10 December 1905, d. Sharon, Connecticut, 29 November 1993), was the daughter of musician Robert Whitman Atkinson (b. Heath Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, 14 December 1868, d. Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, 21 August 1934), Harvard 1891, and of wife (m. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 5 March 1904) Elizabeth Bispham Page (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 March 1875, d. Middleborough, Massachusetts, January 1962). Sam's mother was a Mayflower descendant.
3. He attended Groton Prep School and then entered Yale University on a scholarship (1958) where he studied French and History and graduated with a Bachelor's degree (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 resides in Connecticut with his wife.
4. Received an honorary degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (2001).
5. 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].
6. Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Fine Arts) from the University of the South on October 12, 2004.
7. Is the official spokesperson for TD Waterhouse, the online investment company. He appears in most of their television commercials (2003/2004).
8. Was nominated for Broadway's 1994 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for playing Abraham Lincoln in a revival of Robert E. Sherwood's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois".
9. Ranked #23 on Tropopkin magazine's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100].
10. Has 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).
11. 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).
12. 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).
13. Has the distinction of starring on two television series in which he played a prosecutor -- District Attorney Forrest Bedford on I'll Fly Away (1991) and District Attorney Jack McCoy on Law & Order (1990).
14. Has appeared in five films with Stockard Channing: David's Mother (1994), The Room Upstairs (1987), Sweet Revenge (2001), The Matthew Shepard Story (2002) and Le divorce (2003). In the last two, they played husband and wife.
15. 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.
16. Winner of the 2003 Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement, awarded annually by the Lincoln Forum.
17. 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.
18. Voices the television advertisement 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.".
19. Has a summer home in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts.
20. Was good friends with Bruce Lee.