Sam Shepard DUI Arrest

NORMAL, ILL. — Police in Illinois say 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 in the central Illinois town of Normal.

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

Kotte says 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. A man who answered the jail phone said he did not know the amount of bail. Attempts to locate an attorney for Shepard were unsuccessful.

Comments

[mytwosense]

For a prolific writer, he sure doesn't understand a few simple words: if you drink, don't drive.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

Guess he didn't have the "Right Stuff."

[edvince]

When Hollywood roality sneezes, have twins, adopt kids, son dies, wrecks their car why is it news? American society is loss and Gaza in the last 72 hours has becoming a killing field...

[trudem2]

How easy is this to do? To go 15 miles over a 30 mph limit. Heck...I'v­e done it in broad daylight sober!!

[filo]

What? No mug shots??

[robin50]

He looks amazing like Arnold

[BannedInBoston]

I'm pretty tolerant of what constitutes a legit Huffpost story (just about anything from celeb gossip to the ME crisis) bur this one is definitely a non-starter.

[TakLoufer]

Great playwright or not, he's also a father of three (one with O-Lan Jones, two with Jessica Lange), stepfather of one (Lange's daughter by Baryshnikov) who should know better than to drive drunk. I know the guy has a rep for being a man's man but there's nothing macho about endangering yourself and others like that. I hope he gets the same treatment any other boozehound would get in Normal, IL.

[MomfromTexas]

Is he still with Jessica Lange? She was a great actress, and I miss seeing her in films.

[anonimost]

check out Bonneville. it's a recent movie by Lange. entertaining.

[eremite]

It's laughable to read some of these comments. Defending a person with an alchohol abuse problem. They weren't so charitable to the Palin family.

[daedelus]

Shepard is an artist. The Palins are freeloaders. For starters.

[ignorantwillyharper]

Freeloaders first, but top notch grifters and much more dangerous than any drunk behind the wheel.

[Carolab]

So what?

[Witkacy]

This is a chickens.h.it story over a routine traffic stop which happens to involve a significant American playwright. With Pinter's funeral still fresh in mind, I think it's bogus that an artist of Shepard's rank (NOT talking about the many film roles he does for money, or to stay in the game, etc.) should be slandered through this kind of man-bites-dog nonsense.

[PaxMundis]

"Kotte says a breath test indicated Shepard's blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit."

Drinking and driving is a crime, period.

[jsomerville5]

Man-bites-dog story ? Huh ? His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit, which means he had at least six or seven drinks.

[NotMcCain]

46mph? Pretty easy to do on an open road at night, even without a couple of beer.

Not really as sensational as it sounds from the headline..­...

[Unreadable]

Exactly.

[runforcover]

Exactly again!

[pfc1369]

The standard "couple of beers"...

And you know this...how­?

[aweissnet]

Because the blood alcohol level is not that high. It wouldn't take much at aged 65.

[bujeeboo]

Not shocked.

[Mygirl]

Sam Shepherd is a great writer and actor but I can not understand why he has not had his teeth fixed after all these years. He must have a terrible fear of dentists.

[USLabor]

He likes his teeth the way they are, fix your own teeth.

[jillsond]

That's what I'm talking about! He's hot the way he is.