Actor Sam Bottoms died 16 December 2008 of a brain tumor. Born Samuel Joseph Bottoms in Santa Barbara, California, on 17 October 1955, he was the third of four actor-brothers (following older brothers Timothy and Joseph and preceding younger brother Ben). Sam’s first role came at the age of 15, when he was cast as Billy, the retarded street-sweeper, in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show. He got the part while visiting his brother Timothy on the set. His best-known role may have been as Lance Johnson, the surfer who was a Vietnam patrol-boat gunner in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979). His most recent appearance was in 2007’s Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee.
His genre appearances include: Shadow Fury (2001), The X Files (1995), Project Shadowchaser III (1995), Dolly Dearest (1992), Hunter’s Blood (1987), and Up from the Depths (1979).
He is survived by his brothers, parents, two daughters from his first marriage, and his second wife, film producer Laura Condé Bickford.