By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
May 10, 2000
There is a moment in Steppenwolf’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” that is especially poignant. Looking nervous and unsure, Tim Sampson, the actor who portrays the childlike Chief Bromden, announces that he doesn’t feel big, like his father.
At 6-foot-3, Chief Bromden isn’t talking about his height, but rather his inability to come to terms with self-esteem issues that were passed down from father to son.
For Sampson, 42, the role meant filling the shoes of his father, the late Will Sampson, who starred in the 1975 film version opposite Jack Nicholson.
“My father was 6-feet-7,” Sampson says. “So I looked up to him in every way. I was so proud of my dad. He was an amazing actor and a great father. He always knew things that I never even thought about.”
Will Sampson, who died in 1987, predicted early on that his son would be taking over the role he made his own.
“I remember seeing him do the stage [version of `One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’] in Florida,” Tim Sampson says. “I was backstage one night, and he said to me, `Look and learn. You may be doing this one day.’ I was young and didn’t take him that seriously at the time. But when I got the call to audition for this, I remembered what he had said to me like it was yesterday.”
Like the character he portrays, Sampson speaks quietly. Clad in black, he is at once an imposing and gentle figure whose long, black hair flows past his shoulders.
“I knew that when I accepted this role that I would be compared to my father, and that our play would be compared to the film,” Sampson says. “But those weren’t good enough reasons to turn it down. I jumped at the chance to work with this caliber of actors. I feel privileged to be working with people like Gary Sinise, who I learn from every night.”
Asked what Sinise and co-stars Amy Morton, K. Todd Freeman and Rick Snyder learn from his performances, Sampson smiles and pauses.
“They learn how to be patient from me,” says Sampson.
That patience paid off during a performance last month when a member of the audience was baiting his character to talk.
“Chief Bromden doesn’t say anything for a good portion of the play,” says Sampson, who is Native American. “So there I am pushing a broom around onstage looking at the floor, and I hear,
`Pssssst! Psssssst! Hey, Chief!’ She wanted me to come over and talk to her. What could I do? I just kept doing what I was doing and hoped that I wouldn’t start laughing.”
Sampson, who has had roles on “Northern Exposure,” “Profiler” and “The A-Team,” got his show business start as a stunt man. This afforded him the opportunity to work with his father.
“My father had a very distinct look,” says Sampson. “It wasn’t easy to pass off a white stunt man for a 6-foot-7 Native American.”
Asked whether his father was concerned that his son was in such a dangerous line of work, Sampson says, laughing, “He would say, `Come on over and handle this one, son. I’ll be in the trailer.’ No, he knew I was careful. It was always a lot of fun. I learned so much from him.”
The only production the two acted together in was “Shelley Duvall’s Tall Tales.”
“He was a chief, and I was a warrior,” Sampson recalls. “I’m really glad we got a chance to act together before he passed.”
Born and reared in Oklahoma, the Los Angeles-based actor is proud of helping found the Native American Stunt Association.
“Life is very short, and I want to live my life by showing by example rather than protesting. Would I be happier getting more roles? Sure, what actor wouldn’t? But I think it’s better to just go ahead with your life and rise above it all.”
Once the play finishes its Steppenwolf run June 24, Sampson will return to Los Angeles before heading off to London with the rest of the cast.
Throughout his 20-plus years in show business, Sampson has had steady work on television and in films such as “Back Roads” and “War Party.” He also has done voice-over work for projects such as “Pocahontas” and “Snow White–Fairy Tales for Every Child.”
But the big man who wasn’t scared jumping off buildings had a fear: He was scared of doing live theater. Finally, in the early 1990s, he gave it a shot.
“I did a one-act play in Venice Beach, [Calif.] called `I Want to Be an Indian,’ ” Sampson says. “I was so scared opening night that I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was going to fall over right there and then. But then I started speaking as the character, and it just got easier.
“I still get a little nervous these days being in front of a live audience. But it’s not as bad as back then. I can breathe.”
FATHER AND SON
Will Sampson
Height: 6 feet 7 inches
Age: 40, when he filmed “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Sampson died in 1987.
Films: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Orca,” “Poltergeist 2: The Other Side.”
Television: “Vegas,” “The A-Team.”
Take two: 1979 made-for-television version of “From Here to Eternity,” starring movie stars Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey and Natalie Wood.
Tim Sampson
Height: 6 feet 3 inches
Age: 42
Films: “Back Roads,” “War Party.” Did voice-over work in “Pocahontas.”
Television: “Profiler,” “Tales from the Crypt,” “Northern Exposure.”
Take two: Steppenwolf’s version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” starring movie stars Gary Sinise and Amy Morton.
