Biography
Sam Waterston as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy in Law & Order
Samuel A. "Sam" Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an Oscar nominated American actor noted particularly for his portrayal of Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on the long-running NBC television series Law & Order, as well as for his many feature film roles.
He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to George Chychele Waterston (an English immigrant) and Alice Tucker Atkinson (an American Mayflower descendant). Sam Waterston is equally at home on the stage, in movies, and on television. Waterston attended both the Brooks School, a boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts and the Groton School. He entered Yale University on scholarship in 1958 and graduated with a BA in 1962. He also received a honorary degree in 2001. After graduating from Yale, he attended the Clinton Playhouse for several months. Waterston also attended the Sorbonne in Paris and the American Actors Workshop.
His first film was Fitzwilly in 1967. Other films include The Great Gatsby, Rancho Deluxe, Journey Into Fear, Capricorn One, Heaven's Gate, Hopscotch, The Killing Fields (nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor), Interiors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Mindwalk, and Serial Mom. Waterston is a six time Emmy Award nominee, winner of the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Aside from Law & Order, he has played other television roles including D.A. Forrest Bedford in I'll Fly Away. He also had a starring role in an episode segment on the TV series Amazing Stories called "Mirror Mirror".
He is also on the Advisory Committee for the Lincoln Bicentennial, celebrating Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. Waterston, who takes an active interest in Lincoln, has portrayed Lincoln on stage and screen (The Civil War, Gore Vidal's Lincoln, Abe Lincoln in Illinois on Broadway, and also voiced Lincoln at an exhibit at the Philadelphia Constitution Center).
An active humanitarian, Waterston also donates considerable time to organizations such as Refugees International, Meals on Wheels, The United Way, and The Episcopal Actors' Guild of America.
In 2002, Waterston and fellow Law & Order castmate, Jerry Orbach, were honored as "Living Landmarks" by the New York Landmarks Conservancy.
Currently resides in Connecticut with his wife, Lynn, and four children, Elisabeth, Katherine, Graham and James. Elisabeth and James Waterston have both pursued acting careers.
Trivia
He has appeared in episodes of four different series with Richard Belzer: Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Trial by Jury.
He also made a cameo appearance on an episode of Saturday Night Live as himself, extolling the virtues of Old Glory Insurance, meant to protect the user from robot attacks.
He lent his voice to the popular animated television series Family Guy where he played Dr. Kaplan, the psychiatrist Brian Griffin consulted during his midlife crisis in the episode "Brian In Love". His character, Dr. Kaplan, was modeled to look like Waterston. He was Dr. Kaplan's voice in the episode "Road to Rhode Island", but he is not credited in any other episode that Dr. Kaplan appears.
Waterston starred with Katharine Hepburn in a 1973 TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. The film also featured Michael Moriarty. Coincidentally, Waterston replaced Moriarty as the Executive Assistant District Attorney many years later on Law & Order.
Waterston is the official spokesperson for T.D. Waterhouse, an online investment company; he appears in the company's television commercials.
Waterston hosted a series of shorts that appeared during commercial breaks entitled "Timeline 2000" for the History Channel circa 2000.
