Sam Waterston is an American actor and producer best known for his portrayal of district attorney Jack McCoy in the long-running police procedural and legal drama television show Law & Order .
Waterston made his film debut in the 1965 drama film The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean . [1] Waterston went on to appear as bond salesman Nick Carraway in the 1974 feature film version of The Great Gatsby , earning Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year. [2] Waterston also portrayed Old West figure Frank Canton in Heaven's Gate (1980). Two years later, Waterston played American journalist Sydney Schanberg in the 1984 British drama The Killing Fields , opposite Haing S. Ngor and John Malkovich. For his performance, Waterston was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. [3] [4]
On television, Waterston played a shoe salesman in the television drama film The Glass Menagerie (1973), receiving a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. [5] [6] Waterston's portrayal of American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 1980 television miniseries Oppenheimer saw him earn a Golden Globe nomination. [2] He also played the title role of President Abraham Lincoln in the miniseries Lincoln (1988) and the 1990 documentary miniseries The Civil War . [7] He portrayed a district attorney in drama television series I'll Fly Away (1991–93), winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. [2] [8] In 1994, he made his first appearance as Jack McCoy in Law & Order . Waterston went on to become the show's second longest-running cast member. [9] The role won him a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. [5] [2] [9] He has made guest appearances as McCoy on other shows, including Homicide: Life on the Street (1997, 99) and spin-offs Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000, '07, '10, '18) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005), and in Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998). [7] Waterston portrayed the president of a fictional news corporation on political drama The Newsroom (2012–14). [10] [11]
Waterston has starred in numerous stage productions at the Public Theatre, including Indians (1969), The Trial of Catonsville Nine (1970), A Doll's House (1975), Hamlet (1975), Measure for Measure (1977), and Benefactors (1980). [12] [13] He portrayed Abraham Lincoln on Broadway in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1993), receiving a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. [14] Waterston has also appeared in La Turista (1967), Halfway Up the Tree (1967), and Henry IV, Part 1 , as well as Henry IV, Part 2 (1968), (1972, 1975–76, 2008), Much Ado About Nothing (1972–73, 2004), The Tempest (1974, 2015), and King Lear (2011). [7]
Year(s) | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1965 | Dr. Kildare | Mark | 2 Episodes | [96] [97] |
1967 | N.Y.P.D. | Marco | Episode: "Murder for Infinity" | [98] [99] |
1973 | Much Ado About Nothing | Benedick | Television film | [100] [101] |
The Glass Menagerie | Tom Wingfield | [102] [103] | ||
1974 | Reflections of Murder | Michael Elliott | [104] [105] | |
1979 | Friendly Fire | C. D. B. Bryan | [106] [107] | |
1980 | Oppenheimer | J. Robert Oppenheimer | 7 episodes; Miniseries; First broadcast in the United States in 1982 | [108] [109] |
1982 | Q.E.D. | Prof. Quentin Everett Deverill | 6 episodes | [110] [111] |
Games Mother Never Taught You | David Bentells | Television film | [112] [113] | |
Freedom to Speak | Theodore Roosevelt | 12 episodes; Miniseries | [114] [115] | |
1983 | In Defense of Kids | Paul Wilcox | Television film | [116] [117] |
Dempsey | Doc Kearns | [118] [119] | ||
1984 | The Boy Who Loved Trolls | Ofoeti | [120] [121] | |
1985 | Finnegan Begin Again | Paul Broadbent | [122] [123] | |
Love Lives On | Bernie | [124] [125] | ||
1986 | The Fifth Missile | Captain Allard Renslow | [126] [127] | |
Amazing Stories | Jordan Manmouth | Episode: "Mirror, Mirror" | [128] [129] | |
1987 | The Room Upstairs | Travis Coles | Television film | [130] [131] |
1988 | Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami | Jim Delmore | [132] [133] | |
Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln | Miniseries | [134] [135] | |
1989 | The Nightmare Years | William L. Shirer | [136] [137] | |
1990 | Lantern Hill | Andrew Stuart | Television film | [138] [139] |
The Civil War | Abraham Lincoln | Voice role; 9 episodes; Miniseries documentary | [140] [141] | |
1991–1993 | I'll Fly Away | Forrest Bedford | 38 episodes; Also directed episode "Since Walter" (1992) | [142] [143] |
1992 | Warburg: A Man of Influence | Siegmund Warburg | Miniseries | [144] [145] |
1993 | Tales from the Crypt | G. G. Devoe | Episode: "As Ye Sow" | [146] [147] |
I'll Fly Away: Then and Now | Forrest Bedford | Television film | [148] [149] | |
1994 | Assault at West Point | Daniel Chamberlain | [150] [151] | |
David's Mother | John Nils | [152] [153] | ||
The Enemy Within | President William Foster | [154] [155] | ||
1994–2010, 2022–2024 | Law & Order | Jack McCoy | 405 episodes | [156] [157] [158] |
1997, 1999 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Episodes: "Baby, It's You", "Sideshow" | [159] [160] | |
1998 | Miracle at Midnight | Doctor Karl Koster | TV movie | [161] [162] |
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie | Jack McCoy | [163] [164] | ||
2000 | Family Guy | Doctor Bruce Kaplan | Voice roles; 2 Episodes | [165] [166] |
A House Divided | David Dickson | Television film; Also producer | [167] [168] | |
2000–2018 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Jack McCoy | 4 episodes | [169] [170] [171] [172] |
2002 | The Matthew Shepard Story | Dennis Shepard | Television film | [173] [174] |
2005 | Law & Order: Trial by Jury | Jack McCoy | Episodes: "The Abominable Snowman", "Skeleton" | [175] [176] |
2007 | Masters of Science Fiction | Robert Havelmann | Episode: "A Clean Escape" | [177] [178] |
2009 | The National Parks: America's Best Idea | Reader | 2 episodes | [179] [180] |
2011 | Prohibition | 3 episodes; Miniseries documentary | [181] [182] | |
2012–2014 | The Newsroom | Charlie Skinner | 25 episodes | [183] [184] |
2013 | Jo | David Zifkin | Episode: "Le Marais" | [185] [186] |
2015–2022 | Grace and Frankie | Sol Bergstein | Netflix; 94 episodes | [187] [188] |
2017 | Godless | Marshal John Cook | Netflix Limited series | [189] [190] |
2022 | The Dropout | George Shultz | Hulu Limited series | [191] [192] |
Title | Year | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Nova | 1987 | Episode: "Freud Under Analysis" | [193] [194] |
American Experience | 1988 | Episode: "Views of a Vanishing Frontier" | [195] [196] |
Lost Civilizations | 1995 | Documentary | [197] [198] |
The Unfinished Journey | 1999 | Documentary short film | [199] [200] |
Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs | Documentary | [201] [202] | |
The Last Boat Out | 2010 | Documentary short film | [203] [204] |
The Path to Violence | 2013 | Documentary | [205] [206] |
Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen | [207] [208] | ||
Dateline: Saigon | 2015 | [209] [210] | |
Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story | 2020 | [211] |