Sam Elliot inducted into the Expansive Living Hall of Fame

 

I never miss the chance to watch Sam Elliot, whether in movies or on television.  A recent New York Times article brought home how much I enjoy his acting, yet appreciate even more the sense of the man.  And now, at 71, he's one heck of a great role model for not letting age be anything but a number.  The NY Times article inspired me to dub the terrific actor & pretty remarkable guy the first inductee to the Expansive Living Hall of Fame!  Just look at the photo of Sam with his daughter & wife - who better personifies living expansively?!

Sam Elliot comes across in his roles as the genuine article.  He is my first inductee to the EXPANSIVE LIVING HALL of FAME.  No one better.  He has the career chops, is still breaking new ground in his acting, seems about as grounded as they come, and remains married to someone whose clearly his life partner, Katharine Ross.  Maybe he'll even managed to wangle the singing role he covets!

Why Sam Elliot?  The New York Times article says it all...

"He was always smart with his money, he said, and a saver, which let him appear in the three indie films this year, to his great satisfaction."

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 Mr. Elliott was speaking in his rambling, Southwestern-style seaside home, as one of his dogs, Dionne, aged and ailing, lay sighing at his feet. Mr. Elliott and his wife, the actress Katharine Ross (enduringly known as the bride in “The Graduate”), have been living on their three acres here for some 40 years, first in a house that burned to the ground in a brush fire, then in a double-wide trailer, and finally in this home, set amid an Edenic thicket of flowering trees. They used to stable horses on the property, but now just keep chickens, along with Dionne and a waddling, one-eyed Chihuahua named Marina.

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Mr. Elliott ended up loving to work with the Coens, and the admiration was mutual. After shooting the last scene perhaps 15 times, Mr. Elliott finally said, “Guys, you’ve got to tell me what you want.” They replied, he recalled, that they had gotten what they wanted on the sixth take, but just loved watching him do it over and over again.

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In a cinematic landscape riddled with man-boys and testosteronic action men, Mr. Elliott exudes effortless gentlemanliness and old-fashioned assuredness and calm.

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He described his leading man as “extremely sensitive and insightful; kind and generous and very smart.” Paul Weitz called him “one of the most gentlemanly, kind people I’ve come across.” Peter Sohn, who directed Pixar’s coming “The Good Dinosaur,” for which Mr. Elliott voiced a Tyrannosaurus named Butch, said Mr. Elliott was jaw-droppingly perfect in the role and heartwarmingly sincere.

Each had stories of Mr. Elliott’s decency on the set. Of his refusing to let anyone fetch him a drink. Of his showing up in his pickup truck so early for work that Mr. Weitz initially mistook him for an especially eager crew member. Of his readily agreeing to go with Mr. Haley to a retirement community to thank its residents for letting them film there. “He said: ‘That’s a good thing you’re doing. I’ll be there,’ ” Mr. Haley recalled. “He took pictures with people for hours and hours.”

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Second nature, Mr. Elliott said. “Gentlemanliness comes natural to me. That’s the way I was raised,” he said. “That’s part of the deal.”

Characteristics we would all do well to cultivate, including - especially - the gentlemanliness.