Biography
A full-blooded Muscogee-Creek Indian, Will Sampson spent most of his adult life as a successful artist. The towering Sampson was spotted at an art show by an assistant to actor/producer
Michael Douglas; Douglas then cast Sampson in the important role of enigmatic sanitarium inmate Chief Bromden in the 1976 Oscar-winner
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was the beginning of a ten-year acting career that would embrace both films (
Buffalo Bill and the Indians,
The Outlaw Josey Wales) and television. In the latter medium, Will Sampson had a recurring role on the
Robert Urich private eye series
Vegas (1978-1981), and starred as a taciturn Native American police officer in the 1977 TV pilot film
Relentless. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide