# Sam Waterston on screen and stage

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. 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. 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.
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. Waterston's portrayal of American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 1980 television miniseries Oppenheimer saw him earn a Golden Globe nomination. He also played the title role of President Abraham Lincoln in the miniseries Lincoln (1988) and the 1990 documentary miniseries The Civil War. 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. 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. 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. 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). Waterston portrayed the president of a fictional news corporation on political drama The Newsroom (2012–14).
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). 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. 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).

## Film

| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
| The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean | 1965 | Andy | |
| Fitzwilly | 1967 | Oliver | |
| Generation | 1969 | Desmond | |
| Three | 1969 | Taylor | |
| Cover Me Babe | 1970 | Cameraman | Also known as Run Shadow Run |
| Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? | 1971 | Alex | |
| Savages | 1972 | James | |
| Mahoney's Last Stand | 1972 | Felix | Also known as Mahoney's Estate |
| The Great Gatsby | 1974 | Nick Carraway | |
| Rancho Deluxe | 1975 | Cecil Colson | |
| Journey into Fear | 1975 | Mr. Graham | |
| Sweet Revenge | 1976 | Le Clerq | Also known as Dandy, the All American Girl |
| Capricorn One | 1977 | Lieutenant Colonel Peter Willis, USAF | |
| Interiors | 1978 | Mike | |
| Eagle's Wing | 1979 | White Bull | |
| Sweet William | 1980 | William | |
| Hopscotch | 1980 | Joe Cutter | |
| Heaven's Gate | 1980 | Frank Canton | |
| The Killing Fields | 1984 | Sydney Schanberg | |
| Warning Sign | 1985 | Cal Morse | |
| Hannah and Her Sisters | 1986 | David | Uncredited |
| Just Between Friends | 1986 | Harry Crandall | |
| Flagrant désir | 1986 | Inspector Gerry Morrison | Also known as Trade Secrets |
| Des Teufels Paradies | 1987 | Mr. Jones | Also known as Devil's Paradise |
| September | 1987 | Peter | |
| Welcome Home | 1989 | Woody | |
| Crimes and Misdemeanors | 1989 | Ben | |
| Mindwalk | 1990 | Jack Edwards | |
| A Captive in the Land | 1991 | Rupert Royce | |
| The Man in the Moon | 1991 | Matthew Trant | |
| Serial Mom | 1994 | Eugene Sutphin, DDS | |
| The Journey of August King | 1995 | Mooney Wright | Also producer |
| Nixon | 1995 | Richard Helms | Scenes featured only in the director's cut version |
| The Proprietor | 1996 | Harry Bancroft | |
| Shadow Conspiracy | 1997 | President of the United States | |
| Le Divorce | 2003 | Chester Walker | |
| The Commission | 2003 | J. Lee Rankin | |
| Please Be Normal | 2014 | Dad | |
| Anesthesia | 2015 | Professor Walter Zarrow | |
| Miss Sloane | 2016 | George Dupont | |
| On the Basis of Sex | 2018 | Erwin Griswold | |
| The Six Triple Eight | 2024 | President Roosevelt | |

## Television

| Year(s) | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1965 | Dr. Kildare | Mark | 2 Episodes |
| 1967 | N.Y.P.D. | Marco | Episode: "Murder for Infinity" |
| 1973 | Much Ado About Nothing | Benedick | Television film |
| 1973 | The Glass Menagerie | Tom Wingfield | Television film |
| 1974 | Reflections of Murder | Michael Elliott | Television film |
| 1979 | Friendly Fire | C. D. B. Bryan | Television film |
| 1980 | Oppenheimer | J. Robert Oppenheimer | 7 episodes; Miniseries; First broadcast in the United States in 1982 |
| 1982 | Q.E.D. | Prof. Quentin Everett Deverill | 6 episodes |
| 1982 | Games Mother Never Taught You | David Bentells | Television film |
| 1982 | Freedom to Speak | Theodore Roosevelt | 12 episodes; Miniseries |
| 1983 | In Defense of Kids | Paul Wilcox | Television film |
| 1983 | Dempsey | Doc Kearns | Television film |
| 1984 | The Boy Who Loved Trolls | Ofoeti | Television film |
| 1985 | Finnegan Begin Again | Paul Broadbent | Television film |
| 1985 | Love Lives On | Bernie | Television film |
| 1986 | The Fifth Missile | Captain Allard Renslow | Television film |
| 1986 | Amazing Stories | Jordan Manmouth | Episode: "Mirror, Mirror" |
| 1987 | The Room Upstairs | Travis Coles | Television film |
| 1988 | Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami | Jim Delmore | Television film |
| 1988 | Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln | Miniseries |
| 1989 | The Nightmare Years | William L. Shirer | Miniseries |
| 1990 | Lantern Hill | Andrew Stuart | Television film |
| 1990 | The Civil War | Abraham Lincoln | Voice role; 9 episodes; Miniseries documentary |
| 1991–1993 | I'll Fly Away | Forrest Bedford | 38 episodes; Also directed episode "Since Walter" (1992) |
| 1992 | Warburg: A Man of Influence | Siegmund Warburg | Miniseries |
| 1993 | Tales from the Crypt | G. G. Devoe | Episode: "As Ye Sow" |
| 1993 | I'll Fly Away: Then and Now | Forrest Bedford | Television film |
| 1994 | Assault at West Point | Daniel Chamberlain | Television film |
| 1994 | David's Mother | John Nils | Television film |
| 1994 | The Enemy Within | President William Foster | Television film |
| 1994–2010, 2022–2024 | Law & Order | Jack McCoy | 405 episodes |
| 1997, 1999 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Jack McCoy | Episodes: "Baby, It's You", "Sideshow" |
| 1998 | Miracle at Midnight | Doctor Karl Koster | TV movie |
| 1998 | Exiled: A Law & Order Movie | Jack McCoy | TV movie |
| 2000 | Family Guy | Doctor Bruce Kaplan | Voice roles; 2 Episodes |
| 2000 | A House Divided | David Dickson | Television film; Also producer |
| 2000–2018 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Jack McCoy | 4 episodes |
| 2002 | The Matthew Shepard Story | Dennis Shepard | Television film |
| 2005 | Law & Order: Trial by Jury | Jack McCoy | Episodes: "The Abominable Snowman", "Skeleton" |
| 2007 | Masters of Science Fiction | Robert Havelmann | Episode: "A Clean Escape" |
| 2009 | The National Parks: America's Best Idea | Reader | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | Prohibition | Reader | 3 episodes; Miniseries documentary |
| 2012–2014 | The Newsroom | Charlie Skinner | 25 episodes |
| 2013 | Jo | David Zifkin | Episode: "Le Marais" |
| 2015–2022 | Grace and Frankie | Sol Bergstein | Netflix; 94 episodes |
| 2017 | Godless | Marshal John Cook | Netflix Limited series |
| 2022 | The Dropout | George Shultz | Hulu Limited series |

## Narrator

| Title | Year | Notes |
| Nova | 1987 | Episode: "Freud Under Analysis" |
| American Experience | 1988 | Episode: "Views of a Vanishing Frontier" |
| Lost Civilizations | 1995 | Documentary |
| The Unfinished Journey | 1999 | Documentary short film |
| Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs | 1999 | Documentary |
| The Last Boat Out | 2010 | Documentary short film |
| The Path to Violence | 2013 | Documentary |
| Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen | 2013 | Documentary |
| Dateline: Saigon | 2015 | Documentary |
| Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story | 2020 | Documentary |

## Theater

| Title | Year | Role | Venue |
| Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad | 1962 | Bellboy | Phoenix Repertory Theatre |
| As You Like It | 1963 | Silvius | Delacorte Theater |
| Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad | 1963 | Jonathan | Morosco Theatre |
| Thistle in My Bed | 1963 | Wessy | Gramercy Arts Theatre |
| The Knack | 1964–66 | Colin | New Theatre |
| Fitz/ Biscuit | 1966 | Woodfin (Fitz) | Circle in the Square Theatre |
| La Turista | 1967 | Kent | Theater at St. Clement's Church |
| Posterity for Sale | 1967 | Aburbio | Theater at St. Clement's Church |
| Halfway Up the Tree | 1967 | Robert | Brooks Atkinson Theatre |
| Ergo | 1968 | Aslan | Joseph Papp Public Theater / Anspacher Theater |
| Muzeeka / Red Cross | 1968 | Jack Argue (Muzeeka) / Jim (Red Cross) | Provincetown Playhouse |
| Henry IV, Part 1 | 1968 | Prince Hal | Delacorte Theater |
| Henry IV, Part 2 | 1968 | Prince Hal | Delacorte Theater |
| Spitting Image | 1969 | Gary Rogers | Lucille Lortel Theatre |
| Indians | 1969–70 | John Grass | Brooks Atkinson Theatre |
| Hay Fever | 1970 | Simon Bliss | Helen Hayes Theatre |
| The Trial of the Catonsville Nine | 1971 | Thomas Lewis | Lyceum Theatre |
| The Tale of Cymbeline | 1971 | Cloten | Delacorte Theater |
| Hamlet | 1972 | Laertes | Delacorte Theater |
| Much Ado About Nothing | 1972–73 | Benedick | Winter Garden Theatre |
| The Tempest | 1974 | Prospero | Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater |
| A Doll's House | 1975 | Torvald Helmer | Vivian Beaumont Theater |
| Hamlet | 1975 | Prince Hamlet / Ghost | Delacorte Theater |
| Hamlet | 1975–76 | Prince Hamlet | Vivian Beaumont Theater |
| Measure for Measure | 1976 | Duke Vincentio | Delacorte Theater |
| Chez Nous | 1977 | Phil | Stage 73 |
| Lunch Hour | 1980–81 | Oliver | Ethel Barrymore Theatre |
| Gardenia | 1982 | Joshua Hickman | Stage 73 |
| Three Sisters | 1982–83 | Aleksandr Ignatyevich Vershinin | New York City Center |
| Benefactors | 1985–86 | David Kitzinger | Brooks Atkinson Theatre |
| A Walk in the Woods | 1988 | John Honeyman | Booth Theatre |
| Love Letters | 1989 | Andrew Makepeace Ladd III | Promenade Theatre |
| The Master Builder | 1990–91 | Halvard Solness | Hartford Stage |
| Abe Lincoln in Illinois | 1993–94 | Abraham Lincoln | Vivian Beaumont Theater |
| Much Ado About Nothing | 2004 | Governor Leonato | Delacorte Theater |
| Travesties | 2005 | Henry Carr | Long Wharf Theatre |
| Hamlet | 2008 | Polonius | Delacorte Theater |
| Have You Seen Us? | 2009 | Henry Parsons | Long Wharf Theatre |
| Have You Seen Us? | 2010 | Henry Parsons | Folger Theatre |
| The Old Masters | 2011 | Bernard Berenson | Long Wharf Theatre |
| King Lear | 2011 | King Lear | Joseph Papp Public Theater / Newman Theater |
| The Tempest | 2015 | Prospero | Delacorte Theater |