Trivia
- Sam and his Law & Order castmates were nominated for 7 Screen Actors Guild Awards from 1997 to 2002 and in 2004 for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
In 1999 he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
- Sam's former "Law & Order" cast mate Steven Hill (District Attorney Adam Schiff) was the spokesperson for TD Waterhouse (now TD Ameritrade) prior to Sam taking over as the company's spokesman.
- Sam played the President in the 1997 movie Shadow Conspiracy.
- Sam was in the movie Le Divorce (2003) as Chester Walker.
- Sam was in the movie The Commission (2003) as J. Lee Rankin.
- The fictional insurance commercial Sam filmed for Saturday Night Live has proven to be popular over the years. It has been shown in later years on the show, even when he was not the guest host. The commercial featured a warning about the dangers of killer robots.
- During his guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, Sam appeared in a fake commercial for an insurance company. He posed as the official spokesman for the company and warned viewers about the dangers of having inadequate life insurance, especially in the case of attacking robots!
The commercial played off of the serious image he has from his longtime role of Executive Asssistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on Law & Order.
- Sam appeared as host of Saturday Night Live on November 11, 1995.
- Sam is best known for his role of Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on the original Law & Order television series. He joined the series in 1994 and has remained there ever since.
- Sam has portrayed a prosecutor in two starring roles on television series: District Attorney Forrest Bedford in I'll Fly Away and Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy in Law and Order.
- Sam Waterston was nominated for a Tony Award in 1994 as Best Actor (Play) for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in a revival of Robert E. Sherwood's Abe Lincoln in Illinois.
- Sam is the official spokesman for TD Waterhouse, the retail brokerage company. He appears in their television commercials.
- Sam received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from The University of the South in 2004.
- Sam's character, Forrest Bedford, on I'll Fly Away (1991) was ranked number 17 on TV Guide's June 2004 list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time."
- Sam received an honorary degree from Yale in 2001, in addition to the BA he earned in 1962.
- Sam lives in Connecticut with his second wife, Lynn Louisa Woodruff.
- Sam studied at the American Actors Workshop in Paris during his college study abroad program.
- Sam studied at the Sorbonne in Paris during his junior year at Yale.
- Sam received a BA from Yale University in 1962.
- Sam studied French and History at Yale University.
- Sam received a scholarship to attend Yale University in 1958.
- Sam attended Groton Preparatory School.
- Sam attended the Brooks School, a boarding school in North Andover, MA.
- Sam once lived in a house previously owned by noted author James Thurber.
- Sam's father was George C. Waterston.
- Sam's full name is Samuel Atkinson Waterston.
- Sam has three children with his second wife, Lynn Louisa Woodruff.
- Sam married his second wife, Lynn Louisa Woodruff, in 1976.
- Sam's first wife was Barbara Rutledge-Johns Waterston to whom he was married from 1964 to 1969. He had one son with her.
- Sam is 6'1" tall.
- Sam was born on November 15, 1940, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Sam is an active humanitarian who donates a considerable amount of time and money to Refugees International, City Meals-on-Wheels, The United Way, and The Episcopal Actors' Guild of America.
- Sam was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 for his portrayal of journalist Sidney Schanberg in the movie The Killing Fields.
- Sam and Richard Belzer have appeared in episodes of four different series together: Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Trial by Jury.
- Sam's son, James Waterston, played Pitts in the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams.
- Sam appeared in the movie Hannah and Her Sisters with Dianne Wiest, who later played his boss on Law and Order. In the film, their characters went out, but he ended up with Carrie Fisher's character.
Quotes
- Sam Waterston: As the spirit of the people in The Visionaries shows us, it's about putting it out there and seeing what happens. Doing what you can about huge, intractable problems; now that's an idea worth encouraging.
