Pulitzer Winning Playwright Sam Shepard Arrested for DUI

by Elizabeth Fairview | January 4th, 2009

Actor and playwright Sam Shepard rang in the New Year with a DUI. (Warner Bros. Images)

Sam Shepard is the latest actor to join the celebrity DUI club. And he's perhaps the first celebrity DUI club member to have a Pulitzer.

Shepard was arrested on Saturday in Normal, Illinois and charged with speeding and drunken driving. He apparently told police officers he was passing through town and stopped at a tavern before heading to his hotel. However, his blood alcohol was twice the legal limit and he was going 16 mph over the 30 mph speed limit.

Shepard received an Oscar nomination for his role in The Right Stuff. He also appeared multiple films including, The Notebook, Blackhawk Down and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Sixty-five-year-old Shepard won a Pulitzer prise in 1979 for his play, Buried Child. He also penned the plays True West and A Lie of the Mind.

Shepard has two children with his lontime partner, actress Jessica Lange.