Sam Waterston Filmography

Born:: November 15, 1940 in Cambridge, MA
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Educated at Yale and the Sorbonne, Sam Waterston is far more than the "general purpose actor" he was pegged to be by one well-known film historian. A respected player on the stage, screen, and television, Waterston has cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid...Read More

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Law & Order: Season 18

2008
Law & Order: Season 19

2008
Masters of Science Fiction: A Clean Escape

Actors: Judy Davis, Sam Waterston

2007
Le Divorce

Actors: Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, Jean-Marc Barr, Leslie Caron, Stockard Channing

Synopsis: Based on the 1997 National Book Award-nominated novel of the same name by Diane Johnson (co-writer of the script for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining), Le Divorce is a romantic comedy from director James Ivory. Revisiting the "Americans in France" theme that Ivory explored in 1998's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries Read More

8/8/03
White House: In Tune With History

Actors: Sam Waterston

Synopsis: This PBS documentary traces the role of music in the history of the White House, from the first appearance of the U.S. Marine Band at the New Year's Day 1801 celebration honoring President John Adams to the present day. Among the artists represented, either through rare recordings, film and video Read More

2003
Law & Order: Season 13

Actors: Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Elisabeth Röhm, Fred Dalton Thompson

Synopsis: As it entered its 13th season on the air, Law & Order also entered the history books as the longest-running TV program of its genre. This, however, did not satisfy series producer Dick Wolf, who had every intention of keeping the series in production for at least another eight years, long enough Read More

2002
Law & Order: Season 12

Actors: Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Elisabeth Röhm, Sam Waterston, Dianne Wiest

Synopsis: With the departure of series regular Angie Harmon at the close of season eleven (it was explained that her character, Assistant DA Abbie Carmichael, had accepted a job with the U.S. Attorney's Federal Major Crimes Task Force), season twelve of Law & Order was ushered in with a new face in the DA's Read More

2001
Echoes from the White House

Actors: Martin Sheen

Synopsis: Actor Martin Sheen hosts this PBS program that looks at some of the special contributions made over the years to the nation's White House in Washington D.C. Avery Brooks, Blythe Danner, Campbell Scott, Sam Waterston, and Dianne Wiest are among those who read what former Presidents, First Ladies Read More

2000
A House Divided

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jennifer Beals, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Sam Waterston, Tim Daly, Shirley Douglas, Ron White

Synopsis: This historical drama, based on a true story, is set in Georgia in the mid-1800s. David Dickson (Sam Waterston) owns a large plantation, as well as a number of slaves who do the labor required to run it. Dickson finds himself attracted to one of his new slaves, a bright and willful teenager named Read More

2000
Law & Order: Season 11

Actors: Angie Harmon, Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston, Dianne Wiest

Synopsis: Season ten of Law & Order had ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, with an international trial involving the son of a prominent diplomat casting serious doubt upon the reelection of DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). In the first episode of the series' 11th season, it was learned that Schiff had, indeed Read More

2000
Law & Order: Season 10

Actors: Angie Harmon, Steven Hill, Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: Season ten of Law & Order was marked by the first cast addition to the "Law" portion of the series since 1995. To replace the departed Benjamin Bratt, Jesse L. Martin was introduced as Detective Eddie Green, the new partner of veteran NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach). The fact that Read More

1999
Homicide: Life on the Street - Sideshow

Actors: Richard Belzer, Giancarlo Esposito, Peter Gerety, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto

Synopsis: This episode of Homicide: Life on the Street is the conclusion of a two-part story introduced on its "sister" series Law & Order. Newly appointed to a district court bench, ADA Danvers (Zeljko Ivanek) brings the Baltimore homicide unit into the investigation of the death of governmental official Read More

1999
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie

Actors: Chris Noth, Dabney Coleman, Dana Eskelson, John Fiore, Dann Florek

Synopsis: Essentially a feature-length episode of NBC's long-running series Law & Order, this crime and courtroom drama marks the return of Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) to Manhattan's 27th precinct. For the past three years, Logan has been stuck on Staten Island, the result of an incident in which he Read More

1998
Law & Order: Season 09

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Angie Harmon, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: With the eighth-season departure of series regular Carey Lowell as ADA Jamie Ross, Angie Harmon joined the cast of Law & Order at the beginning of its ninth season. Harmon, of course, played Ross' replacement, ADA Abbie Carmichael, who, if anything, was even more zealous in her pursuit of justice Read More

1998
Miracle at Midnight

Actors: Sam Waterston, Mia Farrow, Justin Whalin

Synopsis: In this WWII-era drama, a Danish physician and his wife courageously fight the Nazis by helping save the lives of their Jewish neighbors. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1998
Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

Actors: Adam Arkins, Murphy Guyer, Sam Waterston, Matthew Broderick, Kevin Conway

Synopsis: This Ken Burns documentary, narrated by Hal Holbrook, chronologically traces the well-documented 1804-06 military expedition of Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and Lt. William Clark (1770-1838) to survey newly acquired lands and seek a Northwest Passage. Ordered by Thomas Jefferson (who labeled it Read More

1997
Shadow Conspiracy

Actors: Charlie Sheen, Donald Sutherland, Theodore Bikel, Linda Hamilton

Synopsis: Presidential advisor Bobby Bishop (Charlie Sheen) is hunted by an unknown assailant in this political thriller. With the help of Chief-of-Staff Jake Conrad (Donald Sutherland) and the newspaper journalist Amanda (Linda Hamilton), he uncovers an assassination plot to kill the President and his Read More

1997
Law & Order: Season 08

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Steven Hill, Carey Lowell, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: Fans of Law & Order -- and there were many, many more than there had been in previous years -- were somewhat surprised that the series entered its eighth season with no changes in the regular cast. detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) were still upholding the "Law" at the Read More

1997
Homicide: Life on the Street - Baby It's You

Actors: Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Reed Diamond, Michelle Forbes, Peter Gerety

Synopsis: This episode of Homicide: Life on the Street is the conclusion of a two-part story begun on its "sister" series Law & Order. The man accused of stalking Brittany Janaway (Rachel Jane Sacrey), a teenaged model who'd been raped in Baltimore before dying of toxic shock syndrome in New York City Read More

1997
Law & Order: Season 07

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Steven Hill, Carey Lowell, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: Law & Order entered its seventh season on a note of uncertainty: Had Assistant DA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) been killed by that drunk driver at the end of season six? The answer would remain vague until it was determined by the producers that actress Hennessy had no intention of returning to Read More

1996
Thomas Jefferson

Synopsis: Ken Burns, America's most popular and successful documentarian of history, has called Thomas Jefferson "the most important human being born in the last 500 years." It is with this passionate admiration, tempered as always by a blunt acknowledgement of Jefferson's flaws, that Burns approaches his Read More

1996
The Proprietor

Actors: Jeanne Moreau, Josh Hamilton, Sean Young, Austin Pendleton, Sam Waterston, Christopher Cazenove, Nell Carter

Synopsis: Noted producer Ismail Merchant stepped up to the director's chair for this drama. Adrienne Mark (Jeanne Moreau) is the most acclaimed French novelist of her generation, whose best known work, Je M'Appelle France, was an international best-seller made into an award-winning French film (and a Read More

1996
Lost Civilizations: China - Dynasties of Power

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode looks at the Shang people Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Ancient Egypt - Quest for Immortality

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode looks at some of the lengthy Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Africa - A History Denied

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode looks at some of the trade Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Mesopotamia - Return to Eden

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode examines the culture of the Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Aegean - Legacy of Atlantis

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode examines the many myths Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Tibet - The End of Time

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode recalls the current Dalai Read More

1995
Law & Order: Season 06

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Jill Hennessy, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach

Synopsis: Law & Order launched its sixth season with the addition of yet another new character, Detective Rey Curtis, played by Benjamin Bratt. As the replacement for Mike Logan (Chris Noth), previous partner of Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Curtis exuded enough youthful idealism and Read More

1995
The Journey of August King

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jason Patric, Thandie Newton, Larry Drake, Sam Waterston, Nesbitt Blaisdell

Synopsis: This drama chronicles the moral fortitude and courage of a simple North Carolina farmer in 1815. The trouble begins when the widowed farmer August King takes his wagon to a nearby town to get supplies and make the final payment on his land. He arrives to find the townsfolk quite agitated as two Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Rome - The Ultimate Empire

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode explores some of the most Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Inca - Secrets of the Ancestors

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode looks at several of South Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Greece - A Moment of Excellence

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode looks at many of the most Read More

1995
Lost Civilizations: Maya - The Blood of Kings

Synopsis: Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode examines why the Read More

1995
Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker

Synopsis: Bigotry and values are questioned when a Black West Point cadet is singled out and harassed by fellow cadets and senior officers. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1994
Serial Mom

Actors: Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, Matthew Lillard, Mary Jo Catlett

Synopsis: Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) is the perfect suburban housewife and mother. She likes to cook, her home is immaculately clean, she's always well-groomed and cheerful, and she loves her husband Eugene (Sam Waterston) and her two children, Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard). There's Read More

1994
The Enemy Within

Actors: Forest Whitaker, Sam Waterston, Dana Delany, Jason Robards, Jr., Josef Sommer

Synopsis: An attempt to overthrow the President of the United States is the subject of this made-for-cable conspiracy-thriller. Forest Whitaker stars as Colonel Mackenzie Casey, a loyal member of President Foster's (Sam Waterston) inner circle. When Casey discovers a plot by his superior (Jason Robards) to Read More

1994
Law & Order: Season 05

Actors: Jill Hennessy, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Chris Noth, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: The biggest news surrounding Law & Order's fifth season was the acrimonious exit of series regular Michael Moriarty, who, since the program's inception, had upheld the "Order" part of the program as Executive Assistant DA Ben Stone. According to the script, Stone quit the DA's office in disgust Read More

1994
David's Mother

Actors: Kirstie Alley, Sam Waterston, Stockard Channing, Phylicia Rashad, Chris Sarandon

Synopsis: Kirstie Alley earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in this moving made-for-TV drama. She plays Sally Goodson, the devoted mother of autistic child David. Abandoned by her husband years before, Sally has sacrificed much for her son but has felt it in his best interest. One of the Read More

1994
Earth and the American Dream

Actors: Mel Gibson, E.G. Marshall

Synopsis: This exhaustive treatment of the roots of environmental destruction in the modern world has come in for scathing criticism from those spearheading the "environmental backlash" movement, which is composed largely of rabidly pro-corporate thinkers and those who take "pure" capitalism as their Read More

1993
Mindwalk

Actors: Liv Ullmann, Sam Waterston, John Heard, Ione Skye, Emmanuel Montes

Synopsis: A fictionalized depiction of the ecological and holistic teachings of the philosopher Fritjof Capra filmed by his brother Bernt, Mindwalk consists almost entirely of the verbal interplay between its three archetypal characters, physicist Sonia (Liv Ullmann), conservative politician Jack (Sam Waterston Read More

10/11/91
The Man in the Moon

Actors: Sam Waterston, Tess Harper, Gail Strickland, Reese Witherspoon, Jason London

Synopsis: In its elegiac nostalgia for the days of childhood innocence, Robert Mulligan's The Man in the Moon recalls another of Mulligan's earlier films, To Kill A Mockingbird. Set in a Louisiana backwater town in the 1950s, the film chronicles the coming-of-age of a young teenage girl. Dani (Reese Witherspoon Read More

10/4/91
A Captive in the Land

Actors: Sam Waterston, Alexander Potapov

Synopsis: An American and a Russian find themselves fighting a literal cold war as they struggle to survive in the arctic in this action-adventure. Royce (Sam Waterston) is an American meteorologist who is on a flight mission with the Royal Air Force when the crew spots what appears to be a wrecked Russian Read More

1991
I'll Fly Away [TV Series]

Actors: Sam Waterston, Regina Taylor

1991
Ken Burns' Civil War [TV Documentary Series]

Synopsis: Ken Burns' epic series begins with the causes of the Civil War in 1861 and ends with the war's aftermath in 1865. A combination of photographs, interviews, and narration create a sweeping historical documentary. Commentary and anecdotes by historian Shelby Foote add another level of authority to Read More

1990
Lantern Hill

Actors: Marion Bennett

Synopsis: This Canadian TV movie stars Marion Bennett as a young girl possessed of mysterious powers. No Carrie she, Bennett hopes to harness her unique gifts for good. Her main mission is to reunite her long-estranged mother and father. The film makes excellent atmospheric use of its mist-enshrouded Prince Read More

1990
Crimes and Misdemeanors

Actors: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: Woody Allen spent most of the 1980s and '90s veering between comedy and drama, and he rarely combined the two with greater success than in Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which he weaved together two stories, one deadly serious, one often funny, both ending in sadness. Martin Landau plays Dr. Judah Read More

10/13/89
Welcome Home

Actors: Kris Kristofferson, JoBeth Williams, Brian Keith, Sam Waterston, Trey Wilson

Synopsis: In this made-for-cable TV drama, Lt. Jake Robbins (Kris Kristofferson) was presumed to have been killed in action during the Vietnam War. His wife, Sarah (JoBeth Williams) and his son were forced to get on with their lives; however when Jake turns up in Thailand many years later with a Cambodian Read More

9/29/89
The Nightmare Years

Synopsis: The Nightmare Years was a surprisingly underadvertised three-part miniseries, originally telecast over the TNT cable network. The production was based on a book by William L. Shirer, who in the mid-1930s was an American news correspondent in Berlin. In Part 1 (telecast September 17, 1989), Shirer (Sam Waterston Read More

1989
Gore Vidal's Lincoln

Synopsis: Originally telecast in two parts on March 27 and 28 of 1988, Lincoln was adapted from the bestselling "factual fiction" by Gore Vidal. Sam Waterston stars as Abraham Lincoln, with Mary Tyler Moore frighteningly convincing as the tragic Mary Todd Lincoln. Predictably, Part One of Lincoln deals with Read More

1988
In the Hands of the Enemy

Actors: Sam Waterston, Robert Davi

Synopsis: There is no question that the Arab terrorist portrayed by Robert Davi is guilty of killing five US citizens in Barcelona. Even his lawyers have zero respect for the rabidly sociopathic Davi. But Jewish defense attorney Ron Leibman is obsessed with the concept of Due Process, and has vowed that Read More

1988
September

Actors: Denholm Elliott, Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow, Elaine Stritch, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: A weekend stay at a Vermont summer house provides glimpses into the lives of six unhappy people, plagued by unrequited feelings, thoughts and desires. Mia Farrow plays Lane, a troubled woman who hides from a terrible childhood memory. She's in love with Peter (Sam Waterston), who is tempted by Read More

12/18/87
Swimming to Cambodia

Actors: Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler

Synopsis: By rights, an 87-minute filmed monologue should be as stimulating as watching paint dry. Ah, but when the monologist is the brilliant Spalding Gray, then the audience is in for a cerebral feast. Based on his one-man Broadway presentation, Swimming to Cambodia is a mesmerizing account of Gray's Read More

3/13/87
Thomas Eakins: A Motion Portrait

1987
Devil's Paradise

Actors: Jürgen Prochnow, Sam Waterston, Suzanna Hamilton, Mario Adorf, Dominique Pinon

Synopsis: Escher (Jurgen Prochnow) wanders through the South Sea islands after his partner Quinn (Tony Doyle) is murdered in this drama taken from a novel by Joseph Conrad. When he checks into the Grand Pacific Hotel, Escher encounters a variety of memorable guests. Included are the perverted Mr. Jones (Sam Waterston Read More

1987
Des Teufels Paradies

1987
The Room Upstairs

Actors: Stockard Channing, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: More a series of ragged comic anecdotes than a unified whole, the made-for-TV The Room Upstairs top-bills Stockard Channing as a Boston teacher of the hearing-impaired. Strapped for cash, Ms. Channing converts her family home into a boarding house. Six tenants with varying degrees of Read More

1987
Just Between Friends

Actors: Mary Tyler Moore, Christine Lahti, Ted Danson, Sam Waterston, Salome Jens

Synopsis: A timid aerobics instructor learns that her new best friend is also her husband's mistress in this domestic drama starring Mary Tyler Moore. Suffering from a bit of empty-nest syndrome as her children pass through adolescence, indecisive homemaker Holly Davis (Moore) reluctantly accepts a Read More

3/21/86
Hannah and Her Sisters

Actors: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest, Carrie Fisher, Michael Caine, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Max von Sydow

Synopsis: A Woody Allen Manhattan mosaic, Hannah and Her Sisters concerns the lives, loves, and infidelities among a tightly-knit artistic clan. Hannah (Mia Farrow) regularly meets with her sisters Holly (Dianne Wiest) and Lee (Barbara Hershey) to discuss the week's events. It's what they don't always tell Read More

2/7/86
The Fifth Missile

Actors: David Soul, Sam Waterston, Robert Conrad

Synopsis: Filmed in Malta, this three-hour TV movie nailbiter was based on the novel The Gold Crew by Thomas M. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. David Soul plays the commander of a Trident submarine, engaged in an test designed to measure the crew's psychological reaction to an actual nuclear missile launch. Read More

1986
Views of a Vanishing Frontier

Synopsis: Views of a Vanishing Frontier chronicles the 1832-1834 journey of Swiss artist Karl Bodmer and Prince Maximilian zu Wied across the American West. Through the use of photographs, Bodmer's paintings, and narration of the Prince's diaries, this video recreates the expedition that took these men as Read More

1986
Amazing Stories: Mirror, Mirror

Actors: Sam Waterston

1986
Warning Sign

Actors: Sam Waterston, Kathleen Quinlan, Yaphet Kotto, Jeffrey DeMunn, Richard Dysart

Synopsis: In yet another ostensible thriller about deadly germs wreaking havoc on human life and psyches, this is a frenetic, uneven story about germs going berserk in a sealed-off lab, giving rise to infected humans more berserk than the germs. The lab is secretly developing weapons of biological warfare Read More

1985