Will Sampson

When Michael Douglas' assistant spotted a tall Native American actor named Will Sampson at an art show, they knew they had their Chief Bromden. Douglas was producing Milos Forman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's classic novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and the 6 ' 5'' Sampson proved to be wise casting for Chief Bromden, the silent mental patient presumed to be deaf and dumb who watches as the institution is upended by the arrival of free-spirited inmate R.P. McMurphy (played memorably by Jack Nicholson). The film was released to great acclaim in 1975, collecting Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Director (Forman), and Best Actress (Louise Fletcher for her portrayal of the villainous Nurse Ratched). In 1976, Sampson went on to appear in the Clint Eastwood western "The Outlaw Josey Wales." Sampson then scored a recurring role on the small screen in the detective series "Vegas" from 1978 to 1981. His most notable role next to Chief Bromden may be "Taylor the Medicine Man" in "Poltergeist II," the 1986 sequel to the Spielberg-produced horror sensation of 1982. Sampson's passion did not end with acting: he founded the American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts in 1982 and was an avid painter for most of his life.