Big Footsteps to Follow

If Tim Sampson’s acting career should fall in his father’s shadow, it’s a big shadow: Not only was the late Will Sampson 6-feet-7, he was the most visible American Indian actor of his generation after his portrayal of Chief Bromden in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975).

Tim Sampson, 6-feet-2 and about to turn 33, makes his film debut in the just-released “War Party.” A full-blooded Creek raised in Oklahoma--and an expert horseman--he’s been a movie and TV stunt man since he was 18. Venturing now into speaking parts, he readily acknowledges a debt to his father.

“I was really proud of him,” said Sampson, who, until his father’s death in 1987, lived with him in a cabin (“lots of horses”) in the Angeles National Forest. “As far as following in his footsteps, sure I’ll follow him. He really helped out a lot. Not just me--he opened doors for a lot of Native Americans.”

“War Party,” shot two years ago in Montana, is an action-drama about three Indian and part-Indian pals (Billy Wirth, Kevin Dillon and Sampson) who high-tail it on horseback into the wilderness after they are inadvertently involved in the killing of a local white man during a re-enactment of a 100-year-old massacre of Blackfeet, staged for tourists. The hysteria and bloody manhunt that follows becomes a metaphor for the plight of Indians at the hands of genocide-minded whites throughout history. Franc Roddam directed.

Sampson, who landed the part through the American Indian Talent Registry, called his first acting experience “fun, but a lot more work than I expected.”

A non-actor when cast for “Cuckoo’s Nest,” Will Sampson “really didn’t care too much for Hollywood and movies because of the way they portrayed Indians,” Tim said. “That’s changed some, it’s making a turnaround. There’s talk of Westerns making a comeback--hopefully showing the Indian point of view, in a positive way.”

He just finished shooting a small part in HBO’s upcoming ranching drama “Montana,” but he is realistic about future acting opportunities.

“It beats the hell out of herding sheep,” he joked. “If I can stay busy at it, I’d love to build a career. Meantime, I’ll keep doing stunts.”