Classic Film Club

SAM BOTTOMS

Sam Bottoms

Sam Bottoms (1979)

Biography

BIO

Sam Bottoms was born Samuel John Bottoms, in Santa Barbara, California, in 1955.   His father was a sculptor and art teacher.   All of his brothers, Timothy Bottoms, Joseph Bottoms, and Ben Bottoms, are actors.

Bottoms tagged along to watch his oldest brother, Timothy, perform in one of his first films, The Last Picture Show (1971).   Before long, Bottoms was given a screen test and he too, at the age of 16, appeared in the motion picture.

He went on to perform in 27 films through 2007.

Bottoms married twice:

  1. Susan Arnold, apprentice film editor on Apocalypse Now (1979), 1980-?.   The couple raised two children and divorced.   One child, Io Bottoms, became an actress.
  2. Laura Bickford, producer, 2002-2008.

Bottoms died of brain cancer in Los Angeles, in 2008, at the age of 53.


Films

NOTED FILMS

The Last Picture Show

The Last Picture Show
  • The Last Picture Show
  • 1971
  • In this coming of age film, a group a teenagers in a Texas hamlet come to grips with whether to stay or leave town upon graduation from high school.

    Peter Bogdanovich directs.

The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales
  • The Outlaw Josey Wales
  • 1976
  • After losing his wife, son and home to a band of Civil War-era Kansas marauders, a Missouri farmer joins up with a small group of Confederates to take their revenge.   By the end of the war, Wales finds himself as the last marauder to be hunted down.

    Clint Eastwood produces, directs and stars.

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now
  • Apocalypse Now
  • 1979
  • Director Francis Ford Coppola mashes the Vietnam War and Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness".   A young captain is sent to kill a renegade colonel.

Seabiscuit

Seabiscuit
  • Seabiscuit
  • 2003
  • True tale of a winning racehorse of the 1930's.

    Gary Ross directs Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, and Elizabeth Banks.

Shopgirl

Shopgirl
  • Shopgirl
  • 2005
Complete filmography at: