Tall, thin, wiry Sam Elliott is the classic picture of the American cowboy. Elliott began his acting career on the stage and his film debut was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Over the years there would be few opportunities to act in feature westerns, but it would be television that gave him that opportunity, in The Sacketts, The Shadow Riders and The Yellow Rose , among others. He would also work in non-westerns, usually as a tough guy. In ‘91 he wrote the screenplay and co-starred with his wife in the made-for-TV western Conager .