Sam Shepard, one of the greatest playwrights and actors of his generation, has died of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, according to a spokesman for his family. He was 73 years old.

Shepard's masterwork is the 1978 Buried Child, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979. Buried Child represents his work as a whole; often dark, bleak stories pepped with absurdist comedy, his 44 plays and numerous short stories depicted characters who lived on society's margins. His other notable works include Curse of the Starving Class, A Lie of the Mind, True West, and Fool for Love. The latter two plays earned him two additional Pulitzer Prize nominations.

His first major film role was in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven as The Farmer, playing opposite Richard Gere and Brooke Adams. He earned a Oscar nomination for his role as pilot Chuck Yaeger in The Right Stuff. Other major films include Resurrection, Frances, Fool for Love (an adaptation of his play, directed by Robert Altman), Baby Boom, and Black Hawk Down. He also co-wrote Wim Wenders's film Paris, Texas.

Shepard's personal life was as colorful as the stories he wrote for the stage and screen. He married actress O-Lan Jones in 1969; while they were married, he had an affair with musician and poet Patti Smith, which she detailed in her memoir Just Kids. Shepard and Jones remained married until their divorce in 1984. While filming Frances, Shepard began a relationship with his co-star Jessica Lange; they moved in together in 1983 and maintained a relationship until 2009. Shepard had one son with Jones (Jesse Mojo Shepard) and two children with Lange (Hannah Jane and Samuel Walker Shepard).

From: Esquire US