Sam Robards

Sam Prideaux Robards, born December 16, 1961, in New York City, is an American actor whose career spans stage, film, and television. He is the son of actor Jason Robards and actress Lauren Bacall, and is the only child born of their marriage. Through his father he has five half-siblings, and through his mother's previous marriage to Humphrey Bogart he has two more: Stephen Humphrey Bogart and Leslie Bogart. Robards spent part of his childhood in London, where he attended the American School in London, before returning to New York City to attend Collegiate School. He later studied at Sarah Lawrence College and, in the fall of 1980, enrolled at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut.

Robards launched his acting career in 1980 with an off-Broadway production of Album. His feature-film debut followed in 1982 in director Paul Mazursky's Tempest. In 1985, he appeared in Fandango alongside Kevin Costner and Suzy Amis, whom he would marry the following year. He and Amis have a son, Jasper, born before their divorce in 1994. In 1997, Robards married Danish model Sidsel Jensen; together they have two sons, Calvin and Sebastian.

His film work includes Casualties of War, the 1988 drama Bright Lights, Big City — in which he acted opposite his father in what would be their only on-screen collaboration before Jason Robards's death in 2000 — Beautiful Girls, and Robert Altman's 1994 ensemble film Prêt-à-Porter, which also featured his mother Lauren Bacall. That same year he portrayed Harold Ross, the first editor of The New Yorker, in Alan Rudolph's biographical film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Robards is perhaps most widely recognized for his roles in American Beauty (1999) and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). Additional film credits include Life as a House, The Other Side of the Tracks, and The Art of Getting By. On television, he appeared in Spin City, The West Wing, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Sex and the City, and The Good Wife, and held recurring roles on Gossip Girl, Treme, and the CBS drama TV 101, in which he was cast in the lead role of Kevin Keegan in 1988. In 1990, he played Larry, a friend of Chris Elliott's character, on the Fox sitcom Get a Life.

Robards's Broadway career spans from 2002 to 2025. His most acclaimed stage performance came in the 2002 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All the Luck, in which he played Gustav Eberson. The role earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play, a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, and the Clarence Derwent Award. In July 2008, he assumed the role of Richard Hannay in the Broadway run of The 39 Steps. He also appeared on Broadway in Absurd Person Singular, and in 2025 was cast as David/Raf's Dad in the Broadway production of Punch.