Morning Man Classic: Sam Elliott in “Lifeguard”

Sam Elliott has had a long and successful career in films and television including an Oscar nomination for his supporting performance in A Star is Born in 2019 and a 2026 SAG Award for his leading role in TV’s 1883.

The versatile actor turns 82 today and I was to return the focus to a long ago movie in which Sam made the hearts of straight women and gay men skip a little faster. Okay, a lot faster.

What. A. Hunk.

The movie was 1976’s Lifeguard in which he was just smoking hot as an aging lifeguard who had reached a crossroads in his life.

Sam could have become the first David Hasselholf and continued down the road of beach babe but the handsome stud had something else in mind: character roles.

He has worked non-stop since then in such films as The Hero, Tombstone, Mask, We Were Soldiers, Grandma, Road House, Gettysburg, Rough Riders, The Big Lebowski, Hulk, Thank You For Smoking, Up in the Air, Draft Day, The Company You Keep, and Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Sam has also been an acclaimed and prolific television actor with roles in The Ranch, Justified, Grace and Frankie, Buffalo Girls, The Sacketts, The Shadow Riders, Gone to Texas, and Landman.

Sam has been married to actress Katherine Ross (The Graduate, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) since 1984. They became involved while making the 1978 film The Legacy together and went on to star in the 1981 miniseries Murder in Texas which also starred Farrah Fawcett.

But I’ll always remember Sam best as the hunky lifeguard!