RIALTO CHATTER: Sam Shepard Arrested For DUI

The Huffington Post is reporting that Police in Illinois have stated that actor and playwright Sam Shepard has been arrested on preliminary charges of speeding and drunken driving.

Police Lt. Mark Kotte says officers stopped Shepard early Saturday morning, January 3rd in the central Illinois town of Normal.

Lt. Kotte says the 65-year-old Shepard was driving 16 mph over the 30 mph speed limit.

It is reported that a breath test indicated Shepard's blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit.

Shepard told police he had been at a tavern in nearby Bloomington and was heading to a hotel. He said he was on his way to his home in Kentucky from Minnesota.

Shepard won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play "Buried Child."

He posted bail in Bloomington.

Sam Shepard has a long history with The Public Theater, which presented the New York premieres of his Curse of the Starving Class (1978), Tongues (1979), True West (1980), and Simpatico (1994). His previous stage directing credits include Fool for Love at Circle Rep (Obie Award for direction); A Lie of the Mind at the Promenade; Simpatico at The Public; The Late Henry Moss at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco; and Geography of a Horse Dreamer with Rea at the Royal Court. His first New York plays, Cowboys and The Rock Garden, were produced by Theatre Genesis in 1963. For several seasons, he worked with Off-Off-Broadway theatre groups including La MaMa and Caffe Cino. Eleven of his plays have won Obie Awards including Chicago and Icaruss's Mother (1965); Red Cross and La Turista (1966); Forensic and the Navigators and Melodrama Play (1967); The Tooth of Crime (1972); and Action (1974). He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize as well as an Obie Award for his play Buried Child (1979). Fool for Love (1982) received the Obie for Best Play. A Lie of the Mind (1985) won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1986 and the Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding New Play. States of Shock premiered at the American Place Theatre in 1991. When the World Was Green (Chef's Fable) was written with his long-time collaborator, Joseph Chaikin, and commissioned by Seven Stages in Atlanta; it premiered at the Olympic Arts Festival. A revival of Buried Child, under the direction of Gary Sinise, opened on Broadway in April 1996 and won a Tony Award Nomination. Signature Theatre Company devoted its '96-'97 season to his work. Eyes for Consuela premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1998 and in 2000 The Late Henry Moss premiered in San Francisco before opening in New York at Signature Theatre the following year. His play The God of Hell received its world premiere in New York during 2004, at the same time as Sam appeared in the New York premiere of Caryl Churchill's A Number at New York Theatre Workshop. He wrote the screenplays for Zabriskie Point; Wim Wender's Paris, Texas; Robert Altman's Fool for Love, a film version of his play of the same title. As writer/director, he filmed Far North and Silent Tongue in 1988 and 1992, respectively. As an actor he has appeared in the films Days of Heaven, Resurrection, Raggedy Man, The Right Stuff, Frances, Country, Fool for Love, Crimes of the Heart, Baby Boom, Steel Magnolias, Bright Angel, Defenseless, Voyager, Thunderheart, The Pelican Brief, Safe Passage, Hamlet, and most recently Don't Come Knocking, also co-written with Wim Wenders. In 1986, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1992, he received the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy and in 1994 he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Photo of Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard by Ben Strothmann