Will Sampson (September 27, 1933 – June 3, 1987) was a Native-American businessman, entrepreneur, rodeo performer, actor and painter/artist. He was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma and was an imposing 6' 7" (2.01 m) tall and also wore size 18 4E shoes. Sampson's most notable roles were as "Chief Bromden" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as "Taylor the Medicine Man" in the horror film Poltergeist II. He had a recurring role on the TV series Vega$, as Harlon Twoleaf and starred in the movies Fish Hawk, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Orca.
Mr. Sampson appeared in the production of Black Elk Speaks with the American Indian Theater Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where David Carradine and other Native-American actors like Wes Studi and Randolph Mantooth starred in stage productions.
Mr. Sampson competed in rodeos, his speciality riding bucking broncos, for about twenty years. He was on the rodeo circuit when the producers of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas, were looking for a large Native American man to play the role of Chief Bromden a 6’8”, 300 lb, Native-American/European-American man. A rodeo announcer told them about Sampson, and after lengthy efforts to find him, they hired him on the strength of an interview. He had never acted before.
Mr. Sampson was also an artist. His large painting depicting the Ribbon Dance of his Muscogee people is in the collection of the Creek Council House Museum in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. His artwork is currently displayed online by The Kvskvnv (“kuskuna”) Association.
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A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon f...
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After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to tra...
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Buffalo Bill plans to put on his own Wild West sideshow, and Chief Sitting Bull has agreed to appear...
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Filmed on location at Alcatraz Island, this two-part "whole story" actually concentrates on a handfu...
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Four 1950s icons meet in the same hotel room, and two of them discover more in common between them t...
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The Freeling family move in with Diane's mother in an effort to escape the trauma and aftermath of C...
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A pair of adventurers try to track down an ancient Aztec/Mayan/Egyptian/Apache horde of gold....
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Recent movies
| # | Name | Character | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) | Taylor | 6.9 | |
| 2 | Firewalker (1986) | Tall Eagle | 5 | |
| 3 | Insignificance (1985) | Elevator Attendant | 6 | |
| 4 | Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980) | Clarence's Father | - | - |
| 5 | Orca (1977) | Umilak | 6.4 | |
| 6 | The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) | Ten Bears | 7.3 | |
| 7 | Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) | The Interpreter (William Halsey) | 4.3 | |
| 8 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) | Chief Bromden | 8.5 |
