Biography
Will Sampson was a Native American actor, painter and rodeo performer. A member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, he was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, on 27 September 1933 and died in Houston, Texas, on 3 June 1987.
Sampson worked on the rodeo circuit for about twenty years, specialising in bronco riding, before making his acting debut as Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). He had no previous acting experience. His other film roles included Ten Bears in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Crazy Horse in The White Buffalo (1977), Umilak in Orca (1977) and Taylor in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986). He also appeared in the television series Vega$.
Sampson was an artist whose painting of the Ribbon Dance is held by the Creek Council House Museum in Okmulgee. He died from complications following heart and lung transplant surgery.
